Understanding Hospice Care

Life Limiting Illnesses

Many people believe that hospice care is only available to those with some form of cancer.

This is not true. CompassionCare Hospice provides services to anyone with a chronic illness or condition who meets the four basic criteria for admission (see “Who Can Be Admitted?”).

In addition to cancer, this list includes such life-limiting illnesses as:

• AIDS
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• ALS, also known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”
• Cardiomyopathy
• Congestive Heart Failure
• Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disease
• Dementia
• Emphysema
• Heart disease
• Liver disease
• Stroke
• Renal or respiratory/pulmonary disease (end stage)