Hospice Home Care

Our service area includes Chippewa and Eau Claire counties plus portions of: Barron, Dunn, Pepin, Buffalo, Trempealeau, Jackson, Clark, Taylor and Rusk counties. Referrals are accepted based on the location of the patient’s home and our team’s ability to meet each patient’s unique needs.

• By electing to forego extensive life-prolonging treatment, hospice patients and their families can concentrate on getting the most out of the time they have left, without some of the negative side-effects that life prolonging treatments can have.
• Most hospice patients can achieve a level of comfort that allows them to concentrate on the emotional and practical issues of living until they die.
• We all die, but how we get there with hospice can look very different than how we get there with extensive life-prolonging treatment.

Under a physician's direction, hospice manages both pain and other symptoms to enable the patient to live as fully and comfortably as possible. Hospice services include registered nurses, social workers, certified nursing assistants, chaplain, trained volunteers, and bereavement staff. Complementary therapies such as massage are also available.

Volunteers go into homes or home-like settings, such as assisted living facilities and/or nursing homes to offer services such as respite care, to give the caregiver a chance to rest, run errands or some time alone. Volunteers spend time with the patient, discussing topics of interest, taking walks outdoors, reading books, praying together, assisting with favorite hobbies or simply just being present. Volunteers can run errands for the caregiver or possibly assist with light tasks around the home as well.

Some families prefer to have a regularly scheduled time each week for a volunteer to provide respite or companionship. Others may use a volunteer intermittently on an as-needed basis.

All volunteers have completed a training program that is offered at HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital, typically held in May. Training videos are also available and can be viewed at home.

View Volunteer Brochure Here

Death is one of the most challenging human experiences. It leaves an emotional wound that takes time and expression of grief to heal. The Chippewa County Grief Education Guidance Team provides an ongoing Grief Support Group which offers a safe place to listen or express thoughts without rejection or judgment.

The group is free, open to all, and meets the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Clare Conference Room. If you have any questions, please call 715-717-7581.