Only 20% use hospice for end-of-life care

A first-hand experience with the aid provided by a hospice is what led David Kobetz to a career in the palliative care industry.
“My mom passed way in 2014. She was in hospice,” Kobetz said. “That was my first experience with hospice. This is not the hospice that took care of my mother, and when I joined Hospice of Acadiana, I saw all the things that a hospice could offer.”
Kobetz is the public relations coordinator for Hospice of Acadiana in Lafayette, and the business is one of only two non-profit hospices in the Acadiana area. The palliative care non-profit services a 50-mile radius of Lafayette.
“At the end of the day, there are about 20 hospices that take care of the Acadiana area,” he said. “Sadly, not all of them do the same things.
“Hospice is end of life care for people. It’s not just the elderly or for cancer patients. We have people with COPD and HIV patients. We recently had a child come in with leukemia. We take care of a gamut of people.”
Kobetz said Hospice of Acadiana’s volunteer physicians are what set it apart from other such organizations.
“We have 15 volunteer physicians that are on staff,” Kobetz said. “They have been practicing medicine in the Acadiana area for decades. When they finish practicing at a private practice, they still want to help. Our volunteer physicians make house calls. They take care of people in their homes. That’s something I think that no other hospice out there can offer.”
Hospice services are usually utilized by a patient’s family in the last few weeks before a person’s passing, but Kobetz said those who get into hospice earlier — up to six months before passing or when the prognosis is terminal — have a greater quality of life because of all the things hospice offers.
“These people can be referred by physicians or family members can walk in or call us,” Kobetz said. “It’s something that I think a lot of people should know a lot more about, but given the topic and subject matter, a lot of people don’t want to talk about it.
Three out of four Americans think they should do hospice, but only one out of five do. It’s a big deal that people really should know about.”
Kobetz said that the majority of patient care through Hospice of Acadiana is administered through nurses. Hospice has 23 nurses on staff, all of whom are certified in hospice palliative care area, to provide care in the home.
“A lot of hospices have a home health agency that is attached to them,” he said. “We don’t have one attached to us, but we do partner with one in Lafayette. The idea behind that — we could have started a home health organization a long time ago but we wanted to focus on one thing and that was taking care of people at the end of life.
“There is a big misconception that hospice and home health are the same thing but they’re really not. There’s a lot of different programs that hospice has to offer that home health does not. Home health takes care of patients with symptoms in their homes. Hospice offers a lot of other things, volunteers for one. Our hospice right now has over 360 active volunteers that visit people in their homes. They play cards with patients and go shopping with them or for them.”
Hospice of Acadiana also offers a service called Pet Peace of Mind. The hospice staff members make vet appointments, arrange temporary boarding and if no one wants the pet, find new accommodations for the animal.
“This allows us to take care of people’s pets and give patients that piece of mind,” Kobetz said. “People get really attached to their pets.”
He added, “It’s an interesting thing that we decided to do. It’s only offered to non-profit hospices, so it’s something we have really hit the ground running with.”
The Mon Ami program is available to patients that are not yet qualified for hospice.
“The people are not yet on terminal list but are in and out of the hospital,” Kobetz said. “They are able to have some of the things that our organization offers like bereavement counseling, spiritual counseling and can speak with our nurses at home. We also send out pastoral director or deacons or priests to speak with the family and get them some counseling.”
He added, “By helping people and providing these kinds of services, it really kind of sets this business apart from a lot of the others.”
Hospice services are covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance, but Kobetz said they also provided service to the indigent population.
Kobetz also said that the recent state budget cuts have not affected Hospice of Acadiana.
“The number of patients seeking our services hasn’t dropped off with the budget cuts, it’s actually increased,” he said. “Because of our policy of turning no one away regardless of ability to pay, we are seeing a higher percentage of indigent patients.
“Anytime budget cuts are made to Medicaid or Medicare services it affects us. As a provider of care, we are affected either directly or indirectly. As the only not-for-profit hospice in Acadiana, we are very blessed by a community that supports us both monetarily and through a massive volunteer force of over 350 active volunteers
Kobetz said Hospice of Acadiana does not receive federal or state grants or aid, and the service’s bereavement program, The Center for Loss and Transition, is available to every member of the Acadiana community, free of charge. 
“While budget cuts affect hospice and health care in general, Hospice of Acadiana has set quality of care above financial reward as the ultimate measure of our success,” Kobetz said. “We believe that we set the standard for hospice care in Acadiana.”