Our Services

Hospice Care

Those We Serve
Hospice of the Carolina Foothills serves residents of Polk County, N.C., and upper Spartanburg and Greenville counties in South Carolina. We help anyone with a diagnosed end-stage illness of any type, providing care at home, in nursing homes, in rest homes, in assisted living and retirement communities and in hospitals. We strive to meet the medical, emotional and spiritual needs of individuals and their families.

A Team Approach
Hospice provides an interdisciplinary team that includes a medical director, nurses, certified nursing assistants, social workers, bereavement professionals, chaplains, and extensively trained volunteers. We provide emotional and spiritual support for the patient and family, as well as physical care. We want each patient to be able to live his/her life to the fullest for whatever time is left to them.

Together with the patient, the patient’s family and his/her personal physician, our team develops an individualized care plan. The team works together with each patient and family to help manage pain and control the symptoms associated with illness.

The Cost of Our Services
The cost of hospice care is covered by Medicare/Medicaid benefits and/or the patient's private insurance. However, our services are available to people living with terminal illness without regard to their insurance coverage or ability to pay. We continue to rely on the community's generous financial support to meet these needs.

Nursing Homes
We provide comfort and care in the following area nursing homes, rest homes, assisted living facilities and retirement communities:

Ten Facts about Hospice Care You may not Know
Some people mistakenly think hospice care is just about dying…that hospice is the place you call when there’s nothing more that can be done. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hospice helps patients and families focus on living.

Last year, 1.56 million Americans were served by the nation’s hospice providers. Yet, there are some important facts about hospice that people don’t know which may be keeping people from getting the best care possible, when they need it most.

Hospice is not a place; it’s high-quality medical care that helps the patient and family caregivers focus on comfort and quality of life.
Hospice is paid for by Medicare, Medicaid, most insurance plans, HMOs, and managed care plans. Fear of costs should never prevent a person from accessing hospice care.
Hospice serves anyone with a life-limiting illness, regardless of age or type of illness.
Hospice serves people of all backgrounds and traditions; the core values of hospice—allowing the patient to be with family, including spiritual and emotional support, treating pain—cut across all cultures.
Research has shown that the majority of Americans would prefer to be at home at the end of life’s journey—hospice makes this possible for most people.
Hospice serves people living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
A person may keep his or her referring physician involved while receiving hospice care.
Hospice offers grief and bereavement services to family members and the community.
Hospice patients and families can receive care for six months or longer.
Hospice does not consider “end of life” the last few days; rather, the last weeks and months.

If this information about hospice surprises you, take the time to find out more. The best time to learn about hospice is before someone in your family is facing a healthcare crisis.

The Jean Eckert Fund
Established in 2001 and named after our Executive Director, this fund is part of the Kirby Endowment at the Polk County Community Foundation. It is used "to take advantage of unanticipated, unbudgeted opportunities to make the end of life as acceptable and pleasant as possible for all concerned." Every year, the fund brightens the lives of countless patients and family members.

Hospice staff are able to make birthdays and anniversaries special occasions, with cakes, balloons and flowers. Hospice is able to provide those little extras such as tickets to a baseball game or concert, large print Bibles, new slippers, milkshakes or a new hairdo. And they occasionally provide more significant items such as a plane ticket or Christmas gifts. The Jean Eckert Fund plays a vital role in helping hospice fulfill its mission.

[ Click here to read more ways the fund has brightened people’s lives. ]