Care homes and hospices

“Care homes and hospices – different places, but the same care.”
We tend to accept hospices more easily, because everyone understands that this is where the road comes to an end. Care homes often face more judgement, because life continues there – only in different conditions.

And yet, in both cases it is about the same: dignity, safety and care. Hospices bring relief in the final days. Care homes bring a new rhythm of everyday life – group activities, conversations, singing, community. Things that one person at home cannot create alone.

Such a decision is not only about caring for the ill person. It is also about responsibility for the rest of the family – for the spouse, children, grandchildren – so that their lives are not entirely consumed by the illness.

This is why it is so important to find a place that matches our possibilities – with the sense that it is exactly there where our loved one will receive the care and the kind of life that is best for them at this moment.

These are choices that require courage, wisdom, and a great heart.
I have seen families who, only after making this decision, found time again for a conversation, for looking at photos together, or simply for holding hands.”