Hospice Care at Lakewood Health System

Our service area spans across a significant portion of north-central Minnesota. For specific questions about our service area and eligibility, please contact us at 218-894-8080.

Our hospice team affirms life, and regards dying as a normal process. The hospice support team includes your medical provider, hospice medical directors, registered nurses, social workers and chaplains. The team works with clients and caregivers to develop a plan of care that builds physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual support. Additional services may be provided by home health assistants, therapists, pharmacists, and trained volunteers.

At the start of hospice care, the patient’s provider is contacted to confirm that hospice care is appropriate. A hospice team member will visit to answer questions and assess the client’s condition and potential care needs. The client or responsible party will be asked to complete a consent form, and the hospice team member will collect the client’s insurance information. The hospice team will outline the services available. The care is aimed at pain relief and symptom control rather than curative care.

Our team is happy to do a hospice information visit to explain our program and options. Please contact us for more details.

Lakewood Health System is a proud partner of the We Honor Veterans (WHV) program. We Honor Veterans is a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). We Honor Veterans provides educational tools and resources in advancing its goals of promoting veteran-focused educational activities; increasing organizational capacity to serve veterans; supporting the development of strategic partnerships; and increasing access and improving quality.

Thanks in large part to the great work being done by veteran, and Lakewood volunteer, Charlie Poulton, along with Lakewood’s Hospice team, we have achieved the Level Four Partnership, which is the highest level an organization can attain. Partner organizations assess their ability to serve veterans and, using resources provided as part of the WHV program, integrate best practices for providing end-of-life care to veterans into their organization.

With a shared goal of caring for, and honoring, those who have served when they reach their end of life, We Honor Veterans and Lakewood Health System are working to educate, engage, and expand awareness to veterans and their families.

Hospice is a special kind of care for people who are terminally ill, as well as their families and caregivers. It treats the whole person – body, mind and spirit. Hospice care is provided where the client (or patient) resides, whether at home or in a care facility, and concentrates on quality of life, not length of life. Our goal is to provide dignity and support while helping clients be as comfortable and free of pain as possible.

Remember: home is where you are.

The following hospice services are also available to residents of long-term care and assisted living facilities. In addition, our hospice team provides support for nursing staff and families.

Physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual support may include:

• Pain and symptom control through medication and alternative therapies

• Comfort measures such as massage, assistance with bathing and other personal cares

• Coordination of necessary medical equipment, supplies and community resources

• Friendship, companionship and support; our “11th Hour Volunteers” are with you during the times your family and friends must be absent

• Assistance with household chores

• Medication and nutrition counseling

• Listening, caring and comfort

• Around the clock availability, medication management and patient reminders through the use of tele-health monitoring equipment