This National Social Work Month, we wanted to shine a light on hospice and palliative care social workers and all they do to help ensure our patients receive attentive care that meets — and exceeds — their needs.
Social Work Month runs from Wednesday, March 1, 2023, to Friday, March 31, 2023. The theme for 2023’s National Social Work Month is Social Work Breaks Barriers That Prevent People and Communities from Thriving. According to socialworkers.org, the annual Social Work Month campaign is a time to inform the public, policymakers, and legislators about how social workers have always broken barriers when it comes to the services they provide in an array of sectors, including hospitals and mental health centers, federal, state and local government, schools, and social service agencies.
Social Work in Hospice Care
Hospice care social workers play an integral role in the overall care of hospice and palliative care patients while also offering support and guidance to their families.
Some of the tasks that social workers can help with in a hospice setting include:
- Preparing forms for an advance directive, Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order, or a Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST).
- Get in touch with organizations offering additional help to patients and their families, like Meals-on-Wheels or Life Alert.
- Help fill out and file insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid paperwork.
- Guide families as they make major healthcare decisions about their loved ones.
- Find counseling services and support groups for family members.
- Social workers are expert listeners and counselors. They help family members process information and emotions while helping them problem-solve and cope.
- Help with funeral planning.
- Offer bereavement care and organize grief support groups and counseling.
- Take care of the paperwork that’s required once the patient passes away.
Contact us today to learn more about the services our experienced and compassionate social workers and team of hospice and palliative care providers offer.