Robotic pets from Joy for All exhibit lifelike traits and respond to touch and voice. They have been proven to be companions that improve quality of life for those near the end of their life and those with dementia. Photo courtesy of Capital Caring Health

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Seven out of 10 Americans would prefer to die at home rather than in a hospital, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Hospice care makes that possible.

The hospice care movement in America began in the late 1970s when several doctors wanted to replicate how the UK and Canda treated dying patients. One of its first pioneers was Dr. Josefina Magno, a Philippines-born oncologist in Washington, D.C. who established a hospice care center in Arlington, Virginia in 1977.

Today, that center is one of nine locations around the DMV of Capital Caring Health — one of the original 15 hospice care companies in America.

The nonprofit company, with Senator Bob Dole’s help, was influential in getting Congress to create a hospice benefit under Medicare in 1982.

Today, two years shy of its 50th anniversary, Capital Caring Health is well known both nationally and internationally for its hospice care. But it also provides many more services, including palliative care for those of any age with progressive illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and dementia; free bereavement counseling for families across the DMV; and veteran ceremonies at the end of life. Capital Caring Health also continues as a center of excellence for terminally ill children.

What is hospice care?

Doctors typically recommend hospice care to patients who are believed to have six months or less to live. Hospice workers don’t try to cure patients; instead, they manage their pain and try to improve their wellbeing and that of family members.

“Some people think, ‘If I’m enrolling in hospice care, I’m giving up on life.’” On the contrary, you’re getting “a better life for an extended period of time,” said Steve Cone, chief of communications and philanthropy at Capital Caring Health. “It’s been proven over and over.”

To the surprise of many, people who enter hospice care tend to live longer than they would have without it. A 2007 NIH study found that hospice extended life by an average of 29 days.

Hospice patients “almost always live longer” than those pursuing medical care at the end of life, Cone said. That’s because hospice enhances quality of life at the end, which simultaneously enhances quantity in many cases.

Like nearly all hospices today, Capital Caring Health provides hospice services in the patient’s home most of the time.

“Mentally [patients are] in a much better frame of mind at home than in a sterile hospital room…They’re not being overly medicated, and they’re living where they want to live.”

“But 5% of patients need round-the-clock care,” Cone said. When that’s the case, the company can move the patient to one of its
two inpatient facilities, located in D.C. and Virginia.

Its main one is the Adler Center for Caring in Loudon County. It has a “homelike feel,” Cone said. Another is at Sibley Memorial Hospital.

In these centers, each nurse is assigned to only two patients. There are no restrictions on visiting hours by family and friends, and the patients can even have one pet live with them if they want.

After all, many “people who are in hospice want to be with their pets,” Cone said.

Pet-like companions

Speaking of pets, Capital Caring Health also provides a fluffy bundle — a robotic companion cat or dog from Joy for All — to many of their patients and local residents, not just hospice patients, free of charge.

“It’s unbelievable what a robotic pet can do for a dementia sufferer or for a senior living alone, who very often is suffering from depression,” Cone said.

“We can improve [their] daily life, often dramatically — and sometimes instantaneously — by handing them a robotic dog or cat,” Cone said. “All of a sudden, they have a purpose. Sometimes they [feel like] it’s a pet that they had years ago who’s come back.”

Over the last five years, the company has distributed nearly 5,000 robotic pets nationwide, including to veterans with dementia.

The robotic cats and dogs “are very lively. They respond to sight, sound and touch,” Cone explained. “So, the more you interact with the pet, the more it reacts to you, just like a live pet would.”

Robotic pets, which the company also sells for $180 each, can calm dementia patients as well as the real thing, he said.

“In the middle to late stages of dementia, patients can’t handle a real pet, [so] these robotic pets are really the only proven solution to improving the daily life of the dementia sufferer, who frequently is confused or angry.”

Services for children, families

Capital Caring Health is also the largest hospice provider on the East Coast for terminally ill children. “We were the first hospice organization in the country to offer care for children who have terminal conditions,” Cone said.

Importantly, the organization allows children to continue receiving curative treatments concurrently with hospice care, in accordance with a federal law that Capital Caring Health helped pass in 2010.

Another important aspect of hospice care is supporting the patient’s family. Often, “family members are under more stress than the patient. We help the family cope and keep them advised as to the disease trajectory and what’s likely to go on,” Cone said. “Hospice care is for the whole family.”

Anyone — even people who have not used Capital Caring Health’s services — can see one of its grief counselors for free, thanks to the support of community partners and individual donors to the nonprofit. “We provide it for any family in the DMV who has suffered a loss,” Cone emphasized.

The company also runs summer camps for children who are grieving after a loss, as well as support groups and short-term counseling for anyone experiencing grief.

Capital Caring Health operates a thrift store in Falls Church to support its programs. Volunteers are always welcome to train to work at the store or directly with patients in the organization’s many programs.

For more information, including how to volunteer or contribute, visit capitalcaring.org or call (800) 737-2508. For palliative and hospice care outside the Washington metro area, call (844) 438-6744.