Families & Caregiver FAQs

Calling hospice is not giving up. It’s getting the specialized care you need for time with less pain, less fear and more joy.

For most of our patients, we come to you. You stay in your own home or care facility and we come to you. If your pain and symptoms cannot be managed at home, our newly renovated 24-bed Hospice Inpatient Unit in Joliet is available to provide a higher level of care.

Your medical care will be managed by Lightways physicians and nurses in communication with your own doctors.

Medicare, Medicaid, and most third-party insurance pay for hospice care.

Some patients come to us at the suggestion of their health care providers. If your physician tells you that your condition no longer responds to curative treatment, hospice care is an important way to manage your health.

Others call us directly. While a physician’s approval is necessary for admission (we’ll work with your doctor to obtain that), many people call us proactively to discuss how Lightways can support their family.

Typically, families report:

• Feeling overwhelmed, frightened and unsure
• Needing more day-to-day support and services
• Concern that managing pain and symptoms has become more difficult

If you share any of these concerns, please call us at 815.740.4104 to discuss how Lightways can help.

Lightways provides hospice care for everyone who needs it, regardless of their ability to pay.

Serious Illness Care is for anyone who has an advanced or life-limiting illness including cancer, dementia, heart and lung diseases like CHF and COPD, end Stage Renal Disease, liver disease, ALS, HIV/AIDS and others.

Yes, you can still remain under the care of your physicians. We should be considered “another layer of support” for you, helping with care coordination with your healthcare team.

Patients can continue to receive curative treatment under the care of their physicians. Our role is to support your care by minimizing your symptoms. We want to help you feel the best you can while you enjoy the things you love and the people in your life.

We come to you–your home, or if you live in a skilled nursing or assisted living facility.

Medicare and most insurance companies cover our services.

The VA covers the cost of hospice care for qualified veterans. Hospice care may also be paid by Medicare, Medicaid, and by private insurance. At Lightways, no one is ever denied care based on their inability to pay or their ethnicity, age, gender, mental or physical status, or religion.

For more information about hospice and VA resources, please click here or call Lightways at 815.740.4104.

Specialized Care for the Veteran Patient.

In addition to their proficiency in caring for those with advanced illnesses, Lightways’ staff and volunteers have undergone specific training from the Department of Veteran Affairs and other local experts, that helps them identify and deal with issues that are unique to those who have provided military service.

Many veterans have experienced traumatic events that have remained dormant for years only to emerge upon facing their own mortality. Treatment in each of these cases requires special sensitivity and Lightways’ clinical team of physicians, nurses, chaplains, social workers, certified nursing assistants and volunteers are prepared to identify these needs and recommend specific courses of action.

Pediatric Palliative Care is frequently confused with end of life or hospice care. Actually, palliative care is a resource for any child living with a serious illness and involves support for the sick child and the entire family. The goal of pediatric palliative care is to help a child live as well as possible for as long as possible.

Pediatric Palliative Care can be helpful as early as diagnosis and at any point during a child’s life with serious illness. The term “Palliative Care” refers to a wide-range of care that complements disease-directed care by addressing physical, emotional and spiritual needs of a child and family. Pediatric Palliative Care providers do not take the place of a child’s primary medical team. They work alongside a child’s family and primary treatment team and provide an extra layer of symptom management and communication support for a child and family in the home.

Pediatric Hospice Care is a way to support and care for your child when cure for your child’s disease is no longer possible, and their life expectancy will be shortened. Hospice is a bundle of services delivered by the same interdisciplinary team as an extension of palliative care, with special attention to end of life planning and care. The mission of hospice is to maximize your child’s comfort, control of symptoms and enhance their function and quality of life.

Children in palliative care programs continue with their same doctors, clinic visits and subspecialty care. Pediatric Palliative Care Teams work in partnership with a child’s treatment team. Palliative Care Teams can help be the ‘eyes and ears’ at home for your doctors to help keep your child’s symptoms controlled and in some cases help take care of issues before they require a clinic or emergency department visit.

Children enrolled in hospice can continue to see their regular doctors, and families often choose to have their doctor or the pediatric hospice doctor be their primary doctor. In some cases, children can also continue to pursue disease treatment while in hospice. No matter what choice you make for your child, there is always close communication between the hospice team and your child’s treatment team about how your child is doing and what they need.

Hospice does not replace your child’s medical care. Hospice becomes an important addition to your child’s care, and can improve their comfort, mood and energy. When children feel better, they can live better. Studies show that when symptoms are controlled and patients have their physical, emotional and spiritual needs met, they tend to live longer.