My parent has Alzheimer’s, 7th stage, and is a resident in a nursing home. Would a Hospice referral be helpful? What would they do?

Hospice is a wonderful option. My mother is in a memory care and is on hospice, and the only thing that's changed from before hospice is that she has a hospice nurse's extra set of eyes on her now. She still gets her medications, her nurse comes 3x a week, and she won't be going back to a hospital if something major arises.

The latter is why I put her on hospice -- I didn't want her to have to suffer in a hospital with dementia again. The last trip brought a big decline, plus she caught Covid there, so we're done.

Be sure to educate yourself on what hospice does and doesn't do. Also, I recommend choosing a hospice company that already has patients at your parent's nursing home. Chances are the nurse would see your parent more often as they're there to see others, too.

It never hurts to see if a loved one qualifies for hospice care. Getting them involved would mean a hospice nurse would come once a week to start, to check your parents vitals and such, and they would have their aides come about twice a week to bathe them as well. Also they would supply any needed equipment, supplies and medications needed for your parent, all covered 100% under your parents Medicare. They also have social workers, chaplains, volunteers, all at your disposal. You can certainly still have the compassionate care visits as well.

In the big picture of things hospice doesn't give much help to the patient, other than being extra sets of eyes on them, as their main goal is to keep the patient comfortable and pain free. However, they are on call 24/7 should you need them.

My husband was under hospice care in our home for the last 22 months of his life. I still was responsible for 99% of his care, so I guess be thankful that your parent is in a nursing home, as they will still receive the care they've been getting all along there.

And while under hospice care, if you decide that you want your parent to die at the hospice home instead of the nursing home(as most hospice homes are quite beautiful)you will have that choice. If your parent is expected to die within the week, their stay at the hospice home is covered 100% under Medicare. If it happens to be longer, you will have the choice to keep them there, however they will then have to pay out of pocket for their stay, and that is quite expensive.

I would talk to the nursing home, and your parents Dr. to see what they would recommend at this time. I wish you the very best.

Alzheimer's can be a death sentence, but ordinarily it is difficult for doctors to slot it into the "six months" life expectancy. Certainly palliative care should be considered. Compassionate care with eating would not change anything if hospice was in place. Food is not withdrawn from hospice patients. I would have the POA meet with the MD in this case, discuss the options, and talk about palliative and hospice care, and whether appropriate in this elder's case or not. It is the MD who orders either consultation.