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For Immediate Release -
Texas Association for Home Care & Hospice Celebrates Home Care & Hospice Month in November
(Austin, Texas) -- Governor Rick Perry has declared November "Home Care and Hospice Month" in Texas. This year's theme is "Home Care and Hospice: Care Stronger". It's the season of giving thanks as well as a time for praise and respect for those who go about their jobs every day often unnoticed. Each year, the Texas Association for Home Care & Hospice (TAHC&H) leads the home care and hospice community in Texas in honor of the heroic individuals who provide home care and hospice services to millions of Texans.
The intent of this campaign is to raise public awareness concerning both hospice and home care. Approximately 4,400 licensed home and community support services agencies in Texas provide services ranging from assistance with personal care to high-tech nursing and therapies. These agencies provide quality, dependable care and support services to individuals who live alone or with friends or family, allowing them to retain their independence and dignity. They can also provide respite for family caregivers, allowing them to have a break periodically.
Among the types of services available through these agencies are:
- Home Health services include skilled and supportive care such as nursing; physical, occupational and speech-language therapies; medical social work; home health aide; and nutritional counseling. From periodic nursing assessments to high-tech intravenous therapies, home health significantly reduces the need for institutional care in hospitals or nursing homes and can manage chronic diseases.
- Hospice is a philosophy of care which provides comfort for persons in the last phases of a terminal illness so they can live as comfortable as possible, whether at home or in a health care facility. These services include medical care, nursing, home health aide, social services, spiritual care, bereavement services, volunteer services and counseling. Families also receive bereavement support through hospice.
- Personal assistance services include routine, ongoing support services such as assistance with self-administered medications, bathing, dressing, grooming, feeding, meal preparation, toileting and ambulation.
Home care means freedom. It is the right to continue to stay at home in independence, even in the face of major health problems - it is where almost everyone prefers to be. Home care means having a high quality of life. And hospice means helping those facing death to do so with dignity, grace, and joy, while supporting the families and survivors who mourn the loss of loved ones.
Since 1969, the Texas Association for Home Care & Hospice has worked to expand and improve the quality and efficiencies of health care services in Texas. Its mission is to promote the quality and economic viability of licensed providers of home and community support services in Texas.
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CONTACT: Becky Allcorn, CMP (512) 338-9293
3737 Executive Center Drive, Ste. 268, Austin, TX 78731
(512) 338-9293 _ (512) 338-9496 _ (800) 880-8893 _ www.tahch.org
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