Elizabeth Nemacheck: The personal consequences of EPH's discontinuation of in-home hospice
Elizabeth Nemacheck: The personal consequences of EPH's discontinuation of in-home hospice
Estes Park Trail-Gazette, Estes Park, CO; by Elizabeth Nemacheck; updated 11/22/24
I am writing regarding Estes Park Health's decision to eliminate in-home hospice and home health care in Estes Park. Hospice helps the family by dismantling hospice, Estes Park Health has off-loaded the end-of-life burden solely on the family, during one of the most difficult and totally predictable life events. I hope to illustrate three key issues we identified by sharing my story. My father died at home in September of 2024. After his terminal cancer diagnosis midsummer, my family discussed my dad's wishes in consultation with his oncologist and primary care doctor. Like so many of us, my dad decided that he would very much like to die at home, so that became our goal. We sought alternatives to hospice support beyond Estes Park Health's discontinued home hospice care; once we confirmed that the only hospice available in Estes was in-hospital hospice, we built the infrastructure ourselves to be able to keep my dad at home. Thankfully we had the financial resources to do so, and a lot of gumption. While we were able to keep him at home, we identified three key issues:
- Lack of information and access to information ...
- Lack of access to standard hospice medication ...
- A houseful of uniforms post-death ... [i.e., five paramedics, two police officers ... with one officer staying a few hours]
Editor's note: Much of this article is behind a paywall. This describes the patient/caregiver challenges when rural hospice access is cut.