Care planned around patient, family
Submitted by
the Blue Mountain Hospital District
B
lue Mountain Hospice
started in 2005 and has
had the privilege of serv-
ing those in Grant County
who are facing a terminal diagnosis.
We provide Hospice care 24/7 and
we travel all over the county to pro-
vide patient care in their homes.
We have 10 staff members and
each one plays a special and unique
role on our interdisciplinary team, in
the patient and family’s home, and in
creating care plans.
So how does one decide if Hos-
pice is right for you or your loved
one? The answer is contingent on
current goals, and what hospice can
or cannot do for you. Recent studies
show that people who have a ter-
minal diagnosis that are on hospice
lived nearly three months longer
than those with a terminal diagnosis
who were not on hospice.
Hospice is for individuals who
have a terminal prognosis, and the
medical goal begins focusing on
comfort rather than curative. Hos-
pice brings everything you might
need into the home – hospital bed,
oxygen, commode, shower bench,
medical supplies and medications.
Hospice is also provided in facil-
ities such as the Blue Mountain Care
Center, Valley View Assisted Living,
Serenity, Elderberry or anywhere in
Grant County that one calls home.
Signing up for Hospice doesn’t
mean giving up all medical care
Transitioning to hospice means
shifting the goals from curative to
quality comfortable care. This of-
ten means that all treatment options
have been exhausted, or when a
patient decides that extensive treat-
ment does not provide the quality
of life they desire. Many patients
continue taking their medications
while they are on hospice if those
medications will relieve or manage
discomfort or pain. Our Hospice
RNs see patients on a weekly basis
(sometimes more frequently) and
communicate the patient’s needs
to their primary care physician, as
well as our Medical Director, Dr.
Zac Bailey.
The goal of pain management
in Hospice is to enable you to
Respiratory therapists, technicians
committed to patient care
The Cardiopulmonary depart-
ment at Blue Mountain Hospital
(BMH) performs a diversity of
therapeutic and diagnostic cardiac
and respiratory procedures using
appropriate treatment modalities
within the current scope of practice
for respiratory therapists under Or-
egon state licensure. The respirato-
ry therapist is an integral part of the
health care team and is available
24/7 to provide pulmonary support
for both acute and chronic patients
in all clinical settings where our
services are needed. These include
the ICU, ER, nursery, C sections,
medical and post operative care,
outpatients, and Strawberry Wil-
derness Community Clinic. At
BMH you will receive excellent
quality of care by therapists and
technicians who care about your
health, at all times insuring patient
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high standard. We are committed
to delivering quality service by
staying up to date in all areas of
patient assessment skills that affect
your care.
heart beat is recorded and ana-
lyzed, yielding detailed informa-
tion about your heart health.
Echo cardiograms: Per-
formed weekly by visiting reg-
istered diagnostic cardiographic
sonographer Cardiac stress testing:
Safe, physician attended studies
that evaluate cardiac performance
Pulmonary services
provided:
EKG: More than 1,000
“Electrocardiograms” are done
every year at BMH. Important and
critical clinical decisions often piv-
ot on the immediate and invaluable
information to the physician that
the EKG provides. Every EKG is
reviewed by a cardiologist to en-
sure the best possible care.
Holter monitoring. Every
Pulmonary function testing.
To determine baseline condition of
breathing passages and to assess
their response to respiratory med-
ications.
Oxygen support therapy
Medicated aerosol therapy
Incentive Spirometry and
PEP therapy (positive expiratory
pressure)
Newborn and pediatric ser-
vices: A respiratory therapist at-
tends every delivery to assess and
assist the newborn when needed.
Arterial blood gas analysis.
To assess oxygen, carbon dioxide,
and acid base status, allowing your
provider to differentiate between
respiratory and metabolic condi-
tions and to quantify its severity.
Critical care medicine
Non-invasive mechanical
ventilation: Our new Philips V-60
bipap machine with its state of the
art auto-adaptive technoloy, pro-
vides supportive ventilation to pa-
tients in respiratory crisis without
the need for invasive endotracheal
intubation.
— The Blue Mountain Hospital District
live, not sedate you
There is a common mispercep-
tion that hospice gives you medi-
cation to make you sleepy, when in
fact we strive for the opposite. “To
the contrary, if you live with pain un-
necessarily, it makes you more tired
and irritable, and robs you of quality
life,” says Karen Whitley, author of
“Living at the end of Life.”
We administer medication to min-
imize anxiety and pain which is prov-
en to be undertreated at the end of
life. Our goal is to improve your qual-
ity of life through reducing your pain
and discomfort, so you can spend
time with your loved ones and do the
things that are important to you.
Who can utilize the hospice
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Medical guidelines require two
physicians to certify that a person
has a terminal illness that will natu-
rally end life in six months or less.
Cardiology Services
provided:
This time frame is arbitrary, as there
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knowing positively how long one
will live. Dr. Bailey provides and as-
sures our compliance with the med-
ical guidelines that Medicare has
established for eligibility.
What if we change our mind
about hospice? A person can choose
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time. If a person who has elected
hospice decides that they do want to
pursue treatment, they are able to do
so at any point.
Hospice supports the entire
family
Often it is not easy to witness
the physical and mental decline of
someone you love. A hospice nurse
can help interpret what is happening
and explain in a way that is com-
forting. If family needs a break we
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Mountain Hospital so family mem-
bers can rest. Hospice is designed to
support the more personal aspects
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legacy and life meaning, focusing
on the relationships in a deeper and
more intentional way, achieving a
sense of closure, and realizing any
end of life goals, such as attending
a grandchild’s wedding or getting
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of the most critical parts of Hospice
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Michelle Gibson and our chaplains.
Hospice continues after death
Many people don’t realize that
Hospice continues care for 13
months after a death, in a different
capacity. For many of our families,
their journey with hospice is only
beginning once their loved one dies.
Ultimately, hospice makes space for
all of the body and mind’s needs.
“We make a mistake in assuming
that serious illness and dying is most
medical. They’re fundamentally
personal,” says Nina Angela McK-
issock, author of “From Sun to Sun:
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of Dying.” Hospice provides a ho-
listic support system; medical care,
emotional and spiritual support, and
bereavement services for the family.
This care is structured around
what is important to the patient and
family who are active contributors to
the care they receive.
FAMILY HEALTH GUIDE 2016 || 23