Hospice Vs Palliative Care Essay

My grandfather died of Alzheimer's when I was young. He slowly lost his ability to read, write, remember and finally to eat. He had always had that sort of “tough guy” attitude. He thought that you were supposed to sweat through the pain. However, I’m not sure that this was the kind of pain he wanted to suffer through. As he slowly lost his mind he never really talked about how he was feeling. However, he seemed to clearly be distressed. Even though I was young, I still think about it quite often. This is also the reason why I initially got involved in the subject of hospice and palliative care. I think if my grandfather, had a type of care similar to hospice, I couldn’t help but think he could’ve had a better end of life experience. Today, …show more content…
Unfortunately for america, the average age of the population is getting older. This means that palliative care and hospice care are going to become more pressing problems in the coming years. According to the 2015 Census estimate, there will be an approximate 72% percent increase in people aged 65 and above while the overall population is only expected to increase by about 40 percent.(Johnson et al 1) As the baby boomers age, it is likely that everybody will have to consider palliative or hospice care for their families. Eventually everybody will even have to think about it for themselves. My mother once told me to do unto others as you would do to yourself. A few months ago, I wrote my family a letter to the future where I expressed what I wanted if I ever became disabled and was on the verge of death. I believe that everyone should write a “letter to the future” to their family. Writing a letter to the future forces someone to think about what they want at the end of their life as well as understand what other people may want as well. When I wrote my letter to the future I actually felt a lot better about my future. I think writing this kind of letter could do the same thing for other people as