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Hospice is a unique kind of care, provided by a team of professionals highly trained in end-of-life care, designed especially for someone with a terminal illness. Hospice adds quality  to terminally ill patients' day so they can spend their last days in comfort. It offers support for a person’s family as well—in fact, an important part of hospice is that patients and families help decide what care is right for them.

Hospice is not a place but a concept. Hospice affirms life.

The hospice philosophy is based on several ideas:

• No one should die alone or in pain
• Life-limiting illness can cause emotional and spiritual distress as well as physical pain, all of which deserve quality professional attention and compassionate care
• A serious illness affects the entire family, not just the person who is ill. All of those affected need and deserve ongoing support before and following a loved one’s death

Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the first modern hospice in London 1968, summed up the hospice philosophy best when she told her patients:

"You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but to live until you die."

Hospice provides palliative care—care that focuses on the patient’s comfort and quality of life, when curing the disease is not a realistic possibility.

VNS Hospice of Central Indiana was established in 1995. We bring unique expertise to the care of people nearing the end of their lives through a coordinated program of support and care. The VNS Hospice team is committed professionals and volunteers trained in the care and support of terminally ill patients and their families. The Hospice team provides a full range of services from skilled medical intervention to volunteer respite care.

VNS will provide care to anyone in our service area that is terminally ill and requests our help, regardless of lifestyle or religious, cultural or ethnic background. This includes patients who are:

• Undergoing aggressive palliative therapy
• Unsure of their health care goals
• Facing socioeconomic difficulties
• Cared for by physicians or hospitals with whom we do not have contracts

VNS Hospice of Central Indiana promotes hospice in the comfort of one’s own home, where people most want to be when they are ill. VNS Hospice care can also be provided in a hospital, in a skilled nursing facility or in a hospice-managed residence. Services are personalized to focus on the individual physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of patients and their families during the illness and for at least a year after a patient’s death.