Hospice

Near the end of life, St. Bernards Healthcare helps you find peace and comfort. Our compassionate hospice services aim to offer Christ-like care that respects your dignity and improves your quality of life. Regardless of your ability to pay, you can look forward to excellent care from us. We’re the largest, longest-serving and only Joint Commission-certified hospice program in northeast Arkansas.

Who Does Hospice Care Help?

Hospice care may be right for you or your loved one who:

• Has fewer than six months to live, according to a doctor
• No longer receives treatment to cure a life-ending illness or slow its progression

Levels of Hospice Care

Depending on your and your family’s needs, you may receive hospice services from St. Bernards at one or more of these levels:

• Routine home care
• General inpatient care
• Respite care

Routine Home Care

Let us come to your home, assisted living facility or skilled nursing facility in northeast Arkansas. We’ll visit as often as you need us to provide:

• Pain and symptom management
• Emotional and spiritual counseling for you and your family
• Help with daily tasks
• Nutrition services
• Physical, occupational or speech/swallowing therapy

There’s no cost for medical equipment and comfort medications you receive during home hospice care. Worry less about medical bills, and focus instead on the people and things that matter most to you.

Home Hospice Team

You feel better with support from a team that tends to your physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Count on compassionate services from:

• Hospice and palliative care medical directors who work with a nurse case manager to plan your care
• Nurses who can visit as often as every day and are on call 24/7 to respond to urgent needs
• Certified nursing assistant who provides personal care
• Social worker who connects you to community resources
• Pastoral care associate who offers emotional and spiritual support
• Trained hospice volunteers who provide companionship and prayers

Inpatient Hospice

If home hospice care doesn’t provide enough comfort, you may visit St. Bernards Medical Center or our Flo & Phil Jones Hospice House for better relief of pain and other symptoms. We’re the only hospice program in the region allowing palliative radiation to relieve symptoms of cancer. No matter your illness, our goal is to help you feel well enough to return home. But some patients choose to spend their final days in an inpatient center—a safe space to be with family and loved ones.

Respite Care

Sometimes, the family members who care for you at home may need to travel or focus on their own health. In that case, you may stay in our Flo & Phil Jones Hospice House or St. Bernards Medical Center for up to five days while your loved ones tend to other duties. You’ll receive attentive, round-the-clock care before returning home.

Live Life to the Fullest

Hospice care helps you make the most of your final months. See how St. Bernards helped two patients get their symptoms under control, so they could keep up the activities that brought them joy.

Grief Support

As you mourn and remember a loved one, we walk beside you. Join us every year to celebrate your family member’s life during:

• Butterfly Release, an autumn event that benefits the Flo & Phil Jones Hospice House
• Moments of Remembrance gathering each Christmas to hang ornaments and light candles with other hospice families

Learn more about these events organized by the St. Bernards Foundation.