Northern Israel Hospice - in 1994, Dr. Nancy Caroline founded the Hospice of the Upper Galilee (HUG). Hospice of the Upper Galilee is a nonprofit hospice in northern Israel, in the Galilee panhandle, that treats terminal cancer patients from the comfort of their homes.
The word hospice shares a linguistic root with the word hospitality and can be traced back to medieval times when it was used to refer to a place of shelter and rest for tired or sick travelers that were on a long journey. The name was originally used for specialized care for terminal patients in 1967 by the physician Dame Cicely Saunders. Dame Saunders founded the first modern hospice - St. Christopher's Hospice - in a residential suburb in London.
Dame Saunders had earlier introduced the concept of specialized care for the dying in the United States in 1963 when she was visiting Yale University. While at Yale, she gave a lecture to medical students, nurses, social workers, adn chaplains about the idea of holistic hospice care. She included in her lecture photographs of terminally ill cancer patients and their families that showed the huge differences before and after having symptom control care.
Since the opening of St. Christopher's Hospice in London in 1967, a worldwide movement that has radically changed the way people see death and dying has started. Some people even regard the beginning of hospices as one of the greatest social innovations of the past hundred years.
The purpose of a hospice is the desire to transform the dying experience. The hospice team strivees to offer freedom from pain at the same time as dignity, peace, and calm at the end of a patient's life.
The philosophy that is the starting point of hospice is teh affirmation of death as a natural part of life. Within this are the values of respect, choice, empowerment, holistic care, and compassion. Hospices care for the whole patient. They aim to meet all needs, whether physical, emotional, social, or spiritual. Hospice cares for both the patients and the families of the patients. All hospice care is free of charge.
There are a range of services that hospices offer including pain control, symptom relief, skilled nursing care, spiritual care, music, and many others. Care is based on a personal basis where it is up to the patient to choose the care that he or she desires while dealing with a terminal illness.
Hospice care has become popular since it began in 1967 as an alternative that allows terminal patients to stay in the comfort of their own homes, surrounded by people that care for them.