Silverado Hospice was born in our assisted living communities as we saw the needs our families faced at the end of life. We knew we could fill that need with compassion and skill and have now done so for over four years.

The Silverado Hospice Mission
It is our mission to affirm the cycle of life by enhancing the quality of living for those at the end of life. The Silverado standard is to care compassionately for patients and families and to empower those we serve to have quality of life options that afford them comfort and dignity.

The Silverado Hospice Philosophy
Silverado Hospice honors the value of each life by empowering the patient and family to make supported choices in end-of-life care, enhancing comfort, relieving suffering and supporting effective grieving. We believe that Hospice patients have the right to continue life to the fullest extent possible according to their circumstances, and in fostering opportunities for growth and fulfillment. We further recognize patients and families’ decision-making rights in relation to continuing medical treatments and their right to withdraw treatment whose benefits are outweighed by their burdens. Silverado believes in equal opportunity and non-discrimination for our clients, our associates, and our community.

The Silverado Hospice Standards
1. Standard: Silverado Hospice is dedicated to the belief that Hospice should bring LIFE (Love, Innovation, Family & Engagement) to individuals we serve.  
LIFE comes from acting through Lovenot fear,believing that Innovation brings growth, treating all stakeholders as Family and that fostering Engagement will share ideas and create effective communication

2. Standard: We enhance the quality of their life through comfort measures, spiritual, physical and mental support, including respect and dignity at all times.  People with a life-limiting illness should have choices in how they live, manage symptoms and how there final days and hours will managed.
Hospice provides peace, comfort and caring to terminally ill people and their families by treating the person, not the disease.  Hospice is a philosophy of care that assists patients, families, and friends, during the final stages of a terminal illness and emphasizes quality, rather than length of life. Silverado Hospice promotes dignity and emphasizes quality of life for those who choose to die in familiar surroundings with those they love.  Hospice care is provided in the patient’s home or a residential community.  Our goals are to:

• Help the patient live each day fully and comfortably by providing effective pain control and symptom management.
• Provide care and support 24 hours/day as needed.
• Tailor medical, emotional, and spiritual support to the patient and the family.
• Comfort the family with personal counseling, resources, and 12 months of bereavement support.

3. Standard: Silverado Hospice exists in the hope and belief that through effective, compassionate care, patients can approach the end of their lives with dignity and comfort in the midst of a caring environment that is sensitive to their needs. 
We do this by helping our patients achieve physical and emotional comfort so they can concentrate on living life as fully as possible. Silverado Hospice focuses on patients and their families so they may be free to attain a degree of mental and spiritual preparation for death that is meaningful and satisfactory to them.

Patients and families are urged to:

• Stay active as long as they are able
• Take part in activities they enjoy
• Do something they have always wanted to do
• Focus on the quality of life because Hospice is about living.

4. Standard: Hospice services are designed to support patients and families alike. 
When someone has a life-limiting illness, his or her loved ones also feel pain. Recognizing the physical and emotional burdens of caring for a loved one, Silverado Hospice offers caregiver support through a special, team-oriented concept of care designed to provide comfort and emotional, social, and spiritual support to patients and their families.  Silverado Hospice champions the belief that each of us has the right to die pain-free and with dignity, and that our families should receive the necessary support to allow the process to happen. Silverado Hospice provides a professionally designed plan of care based on patient/family stated goals that complemented by the Silverado Hospice Team.  Our hospice team members are experienced end-of-life care experts who provide our patients and their families with optimum quality of care.

They include:

• Patient and Family
• Hospice Physician
• Personal Physician
• Registered Nurses & Practical/Vocational Nurses
• Chaplains
• PT, OT, & Speech Therapists
• Certified Home Health Aides
• Registered Dieticians
• Social Workers
• Pharmacists
• Trained Volunteers
• Bereavement program for family and friends.

5. Standard: Hospice care is sensitive, dignified and cost-effective health care.  Hospice care has been proven to be less costly than traditional health care, with higher levels of patient and family satisfaction.
Hospice care is a benefit of the Medicare program. It is also covered by Medicaid and most private insurance companies.  Most HMO’s and managed care plans offer hospice care as a benefit.  Hospice care neither prolongs life nor hastens death; the goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of a patient’s last days by offering comfort and dignity.  Hospice also offers bereavement services to families before and after a patient’s death.

6. Standard:  Hospice respects the privacy and dignity of all individuals.
Hospice team members recognize that they are guests in the patient’s home, wherever that may be, and respect privacy, including individual preferences in cultural, spiritual and living environments.

7. Standard: Silverado Hospice is the Hospice of choice for the provision of end of life care for those people with Alzheimer’s and Dementia in addition to all other terminal conditions.
Hospice team members are specially trained in the palliative and end of life care for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.  Training includes in-service education, on the job experience in Silverado Communities caring for people with Dementia, and regularly scheduled training throughout the year.

8. Standard: Silverado Hospice associates are empowered to always do what is necessary to provide the best care and customer service possible.
Associates are encouraged to make decisions in the best interest of patient care and customer service within the guidelines of their license, certification, education and experience and with supervisor approval.  Unparelled patient care and customer satisfaction are the primary goals of Silverado Hospice and are the foundation of our Hospice.  All associates are encouraged to engage in problem solving and plan of care development.  Associates are required to wear name tags at all times.

9. Standard:  Silverado Hospice Associates treat each other with dignity and respect.  We are honest and ethical in our relationships. We do not discriminate for any reason other than the fact that we recognize and reward associates for superior performance. We operate from love rather than fear in all of our relationships and actions.
Silverado Hospice believes that our associates are one of our most important and valued customers. We believe that it is our responsibility to coach, guide, train, and support our associates to success. We recognize that occasionally, an associate and a particular job role may not be the best fit for each other. In that event, it is Silverado’s responsibility to operate out of love for that individual to assist them on the path that will best enable them to be successful.

10. Standard: Children and pet’s are welcome in the office, communities and patient homes:
Silverado Hospice supports the philosophy on having children and pets in the office with Supervisor approval.  Pets are allowed in the patient home with prior patient/family approval.  Children are allowed to accompany associates on patient home visits with patient/family and supervisor approval.  Children and pets that visit the office/patient home is a privilege not a right.  Supervisors have the authority to change this practice as needed.

11.  Standard:  New patients will be visited the same day of referral, usually within 4 hours unless other arrangements have been made with the family or DPOA.
Hospice team members will visit a new patient as soon after the referral as possible to provide a comprehensive assessment of needs and provide the necessary care, medications, equipment and support, unless otherwise requested by the patient/family.

12. Standard:  All patients will have a comprehensive assessment and be assigned a case manager and interdisciplinary team to provide consistent and timely quality care.
The interdisciplinary team meets as needed and no less than every two weeks to review the patient plan of care and make necessary changes to achieve optimal symptom management, spiritual and emotional support for the patient and family.  The plan is shared with the patient, family and attending physician.

13.  Standard:  Hospice will comply with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations so as not to jeopardize patient care or the integrity of Silverado hospice.
All hospice associates will operate on the premise that they should do the right thing all the time and never engage in fraud, diversion, deception, falsification or any activity that would endanger patients well being or our compliance with any regulation.  Associates are encouraged to report any such behavior to their supervisor or an Executive team member.

14. Standard:  Patients and families have the right to spiritual support of their choice.
Silverado Hospice honors individual religious choice and will meet those needs and requests to the best of our ability with the resources that are available.

15. Standard: We are committed to ethical business practices that support our culture and values.
Silverado Hospice creates mutually beneficial business relationships by never attempting to influence a patient or family to move from their current provider to any of our services.  Silverado understands the importance of the health and well being of those under another provider’s care and the need to maintain the quality and consistency of care.  Silverado Hospice will always do what is in the best interest of the patient and within ethical business practices.