Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice
When you come home to our Home Health & Hospice care, you come home to caring. Since 1985, Cape Fear Valley has provided dependable, compassionate care in the environment most comfortable to the patient: home.
In 2008, we raised that level of caring to even greater heights when we partnered with LHC Group of Lafayette, La., to form our new Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice partnership.
If you don't know the name, LHC Group is a national leader in home care, with nearly 200 home health agencies in 13 states located throughout the Southeastern United States. The joint venture will bring LHC’s expertise in home care to our program's daily operations, allowing Cape Fear Valley to focus on its core competencies in providing hospital-based acute care.
Many people, from newborns to the elderly, have medical needs that allow for treatment at home. By offering quality medical and personal care, our Home Health program has improved the lives of thousands of people in this area.
To qualify for our Home Health program, the patient must be home-bound, with a need for skilled nursing or allied healthcare, and be under a physician's care. Referrals may come directly from the patient's physician, from a community agency, the discharge planner at the hospital, or from the family.
Our staff includes Certified Home Health Aides, Licensed Physical Therapists, Registered Occupational Therapists, Speech Language-Pathologists, Medical Social Workers and Registered Nurses. We offer psychiatric home care as well as care for newborns and stroke patients. Services include routine care for catheters, wounds and colostomy patients. We also assist in tube-feeding management and IV Therapy.
Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice accepts Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, VA, all major insurances, and private pay.
Our Hospice program is designed to assist terminally ill patients and their families in the comfort of their own home. A team of professionals and trained volunteers provides much-needed support and medical care, helping the patient and family alike.
For more information about Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice, please call 609-6740.
• Bereavement Support Group
• Cape Fear Valley Hospice
• Pastoral Care Services
• Become a Hospice Volunteer
Bereavement Support Groups
Cape Fear Valley’s Bereavement Support Group is designed to provide support for people who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
Most of our participants have lost a family member or friend within the course of the past year. However, there is no specific time frame in which one suffers the pain of grief. Therefore, anyone who feels the need for support is welcome to attend.
As the group meets, handouts may be provided, including educational materials, written experiences of other bereaved individuals, videos, poems, etc. Agendas are used for certain sessions. However, much of the group time together is directed by the perceived needs of the group members.
Our support group provides a "safe" environment that is confidential and non-judgmental. Participants are free to share their thoughts and feelings from their own grief experience. No one is coerced or pressured into speaking if they do not wish to do so.
Our meeting place is the Hospice Department on the second floor of the Cape Fear Valley Education Center, located at 3418 Village Drive. The group meets the first and third Thursday of each month from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Both the Hospice Chaplain and Hospice Social Worker, who are experienced in working with people undergoing grief, facilitate the meetings.
Those interested may come to any or all sessions. There is no need to be concerned if you have missed prior sessions.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Chaplain Strickland, Hospice Chaplain, at 609-6511. If you are interested in attending, please let us know so that enough materials may be prepared in advance. Please join us if you recognize a need for support during your time of grief.Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice
The term "hospice" refers to a philosophy of care that provides care for people with terminal illnesses and for their families. Dignified end-of-life care is provided with respect and grace.
We deliver this care through a team approach. Our team consists of an interdisciplinary group of professionals who work together to plan and administer individualized and holistic care for each client.
The hospice team consists of a medical director, a team leader, a team assistant/volunteer coordinator, a hospice nurse, certified nursing assistants, a social worker and a chaplain/bereavement coordinator. The team seeks to meet the physical, psychosocial, emotional and spiritual needs of our clients and families.
Hospice care does not take place in the traditional, healthcare environment of a hospital. It takes place in the patient or caregiver’s home. A person’s home is usually the most comforting place for one to be, especially when they are ill.
Our hospice team members go out to our patients’ homes in order to provide services. However, the family is a major component in the provision of appropriate hospice care. Hospice professionals cannot be there for the patient all of the time. Therefore, at least one member of a patient’s family is very involved in caring for a hospice patient.
Our hospice nurse teaches family members how to perform various functions as they care for their family member. Some of these functions may include giving medications, helping the patient stay as active and mobile as possible, listening and responding to the patient’s needs and what steps to take in specific situations.
If a patient is not able to stay at home, other measures may be taken, such as an admission to a rest home. Short hospital stays may be necessary in the case of an emergency.
Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice team members visit on a scheduled basis depending upon the specific needs of each patient. Because of the special needs of hospice patients and families, one of our nurses is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
When is hospice care appropriate?
Hospice care is provided for individuals whose life expectancy is considered limited as determined by a physician.
Although a physician cannot predict exactly how long a person has to live, he or she may make an educated estimation. If that estimation is six months or less, an individual may be appropriate for hospice.
Sometimes, a disease progresses beyond the medical community’s ability to cure a person of it. When someone has a disease that has progressed to this point, and no more curative treatment is being administered, he or she is appropriate for hospice. Although curative treatment is removed, comfort care can be provided to make life better for a patient.
In addition, in order for a person to be appropriate for hospice care, he or she must be informed both of their diagnosis and prognosis. This person must also live in a residence within the service area of a particular hospice program.
Finally, a hospice patient needs to have a family member, friend or someone who is willing to take on the role of "primary caregiver." This primary caregiver provides in-home care and supervision for the patient when hospice professionals are not present in the home.
How does one begin to receive hospice care?
When a person’s physician agrees to participate in the hospice’s plan of care and makes a referral to hospice, that person may then be considered as a potential client.
In order to receive hospice care from Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice, simply call (910) 609-6572 or (910) 609-6740. If you are not yet ready for hospice, but would like more information, you are also welcome to call.
Once an individual is received under the care of hospice, a hospice nurse and social worker will make an initial visit for admission. At that time, services will once again be clarified and information will be gathered. Afterward, an individualized plan of care will be developed, and hospice care will begin.
How is Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice paid for its services?
Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice is reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid, private pay, or by a patient’s health insurance plan that pays for hospice benefits. Our hospice also seeks to help those, in certain circumstances, who have insufficient financial backing. Therefore, Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice accepts contributions and memorial donations, so that we are more able to help those in need. Your donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Pastoral Care Services
The Hospice Chaplain, Teresa Strickland, is a member of the Hospice team. Her services are unique in that they are optional to the patient and non-chargeable.
She provides spiritual care and support. Her involvement with a patient is not meant to compete with the ministry of one’s own pastor, but to supplement it. Oftentimes, at the request of a patient, she will contact his or her pastor or priest.
The Chaplain is someone with whom patients and their family members may discuss the dying process and how that affects a person emotionally, spiritually and physically. She is also a resource for prayer, reading of appropriate scripture, and spiritual guidance, if desired.
For more information about the Pastoral Care Services of Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice, please call Chaplain Strickland at (910) 609-6511.
Become a Hospice Volunteer
Cape Fear Valley HomeCare & Hospice encourages individuals ages 18 and older to join its Hospice Volunteer Program. Hospice volunteers assist terminally ill patients and their families. Once trained, they can make a difference in the lives of their Cumberland County neighbors by offering just three hours of their time a week. Volunteers may work with one family or work on a rotating basis with various families. A nursing background is not required to volunteer. Office work is also available for volunteers.
For more information, please call (910) 609-4794.
