Azelea Hospice is accepting hospice referrals and continues to visit hospice patients. It’s during these times of change you may need us most. Our staff has special training and necessary personal protective equipment to ensure the safety of patients during this pandemic, even those testing positive for COVID-19. As always, our care team continues to serve patients in their personal homes, nursing homes, assisted living facilities or wherever they call home.

Your health and safety are our highest priorities. We are taking extra safety precautions during every face-to-face visit.

Daily fever and symptom-free certification by all staff.
Daily fever and symptom-free certification by all visiting staff.
Use of face masks with all patients.
Use of face masks and face shields.
Use of gowns, hair covers, shoe covers, and face shields for COVID positive patients.Use of personal protective gloves with all patients.
Provide patients with masks while being provided care.
COVID testing prior to entering into skilled nursing facilities.
Additional hand hygiene before and after visiting facility/home.

Azelea Hospice visits enable us to safely connect patients and their families with our doctors, nurses, chaplains, and social workers. For telehealth visits, we have the option of using various apps to keep you connected.

• People 65 and older.
• People of any age who have a serious underlying medical condition.
• People who live in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
• Those who are not vaccinated.

Azelea Hospice works with individual nursing facilities to safely enter and care for patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published guidelines advising nursing homes that hospice workers may be allowed entry if the hospice staff follows CDC guidelines for transmission-based precautions and uses personal protective equipment properly. Allowing hospice staff in facilities adds an extra layer of support for patients and their families who often aren’t allowed to visit.

The CDC advises home hospice patient to stay at home, except to get medical care. Hospice patient at home should be separate from other people and animals as much as possible. A separate room is ideal. Azelea Hospice hospice staff can help you with extra safety measures, such as when and how to wear a face covering. The CDC has published specific guidelines for caring for someone sick at home.

COVID-19, like any other infection, requires an individualized approach to care.The care team talks with patients and families to understand their wishes and values, which become part of care plans so that care goals are honored. The majority of patients near the end of life want to be at home and out of the hospital. We can generally manage patients in their setting of choice with supportive measures and care.

Care teams are experts in managing symptoms commonly experienced near the end of life.Many of these symptoms are also common with COVID-19, including fever, shortness of breath, and cough. Azelea hospice incorporates pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments to help alleviate these symptoms while ensuring patient, family, and staff safety.

Azelea hospice staff will continue to adhere to established screening protocols to assess the risks of infection spread through each patient encounter.
With the advent of COVID-19, these protocols continue to evolve as we strive to keep our patients, families and staff safe.
As always, care team members follow all universal safety precautions and incorporate US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and state/local health departments guidance regarding personal protective equipment (PPE). Appropriate PPE varies with each individual situation and may include gloves, masks, shields, and/or gowns.
We also follow protocols and mandates from the facilities we serve, including nursing homes, assisted living communities, care homes for the elderly, etc.

Each facility sets its own status based on state/local health department directions or their current situation.

Regarding Closing, Azelea Hospice will remain open during the COVID- 19 pandemic.

Please contact the specific facility to find out its current status and guidelines.