Expert care, where you are

To make the most of precious time during life’s final months, count on the expert care from Arkansas Hospice. Our experienced team will help keep your loved one safely at home where they prefer. Comfort care and symptom management become the primary focus for a higher quality of life. Arkansas Hospice cares for patients of all ages diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. We provide care wherever the patient calls home or at one of our Arkansas Hospice inpatient or contracted facilities across our 44-county service area.

Arkansas Hospice is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurances.

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A change in the focus of care

We provide comprehensive care designed with the patient’s comfort and individual needs in mind. The physical, emotional and spiritual support provided is determined by the patient’s wishes and the family’s unique needs. Arkansas Hospice was one of the first providers of hospice care services in the state, and is now the largest nonprofit provider of care in Arkansas. We are proud to be a leader in providing comfort care to patients and their families across our 48-county service area. Arkansas Hospice is:

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Everyone has a story. CLICK HERE to watch family members of Arkansas Hospice patients tell their stories in their own words. Spouses, children, and even parents of our patients share what they experienced, and how Arkansas Hospice care was there for them, and their loved one.

Arkansas Hospice provides a comprehensive program of care to patients and families facing life-limiting illness. Hospice is the practice of care, not a specific place of care.

Arkansas Hospice enables patients with a projected lifespan of six months or less, due to serious illness, to live their final days to the fullest in the comfort of their homes – or in home-like settings – surrounded by loved ones. Arkansas Hospice can help when:

  • There is a life-limiting prognosis.
  • Patient and family request expert symptom control and pain management, rather than aggressive, curative treatment. There is an exception for pediatric patients, who can receive Arkansas Hospice comfort care concurrently with curative care treatment.
  • The illness has advanced and there are questions about options of care.

In the home

Many patients with advanced illnesses are able to remain in the comfort and security of their own homes while receiving hospice care. Services include:

  • Physician-directed care
  • Registered nurse visits
  • Hospice care team members on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • Social worker services for the patient and family
  • Home health aide visits
  • Chaplain and spiritual assistance
  • Emotional support
  • Diagnosis-related medications
  • Medical equipment and supplies
  • Volunteer support
  • Respite care for patient or caregiver

In a nursing home

Arkansas Hospice does not replace nursing home care; it actually supplements those services. As part of that extra care, a hospice nurse will visit the nursing home at least once a week. However, the patient’s nursing home physician will remain in charge of all care, with the hospice nurse following orders from that doctor. Arkansas Hospice has a registered nurse on call every night, including weekends. Arkansas Hospice also will provide medications and medical supplies related to the patient’s hospice care for symptom control and pain relief. Other services Arkansas Hospice provides in the nursing home include:

  • Extra bathing and personal care during the week
  • Regular visits from hospice-certified volunteers
  • Hospice chaplains available 24 hours a day
  • Hospice social workers visiting regularly and available 24 hours a day
  • Volunteer support

In an inpatient center

While most patients receive care wherever they call home, there may be times when care by hospice professionals around the clock is needed for stabilization and to provide relief for family caregivers. Patients who need evaluation and treatment for pain, nausea or other physical symptoms too difficult to control in their home may receive inpatient care. Inpatient hospice admissions are typically short-term stays for aggressive symptom management to improve quality of life and make it possible for the patient to return to their home setting. In addition to the Arkansas Hospice Ottenheimer Inpatient Center in Little Rock, we contract with other facilities in our service area near you for inpatient care. Learn more about our inpatient care.

Caregiver Support

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Family members are encouraged, supported and trained by a team of hospice professionals (including doctors, nurses, hospice aides, chaplains, social workers, volunteers and bereavement specialists) to safely care for their loved ones with help available from Arkansas Hospice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you would like to learn more about how to make a meaningful impact on the patients and families in our care, please visit the Arkansas Hospice Foundation.

Explore our Caregiver Resources for providing caregiving at home with confidence.

Handling the Difficult Conversations

While it can be difficult to bring up these topics, the conversations can be an invaluable gift to those you love and those providing medical care. This information provided by the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization is divided into three parts:

How to Talk with Your Loved Ones about Your Wishes
How to Talk with Your Healthcare Providers
How to Talk with Others about Their End-of-Life Wishes

In any of these cases, it is impossible to foresee every type of circumstance or illness; therefore, it is essential to think in general terms while making sure loved ones and care providers are aware of one’s priorities. Also, while having these conversations, consider discussing advance care plans, which enable one to plan for and express end-of-life wishes in the event that the patient is unable to communicate. Finally, make sure to reassess these decisions over time with follow-up discussions. It is important to review these issues and decisions, as personal health or circumstances in life might change – along with one’s views and choices.

Keep On Living

Perhaps the biggest misunderstanding – or fear – about hospice care is that it means giving up hope. It does not. Hospice care actually enables patients to live their last days to the fullest, with purpose, dignity, grace and support. It is about bringing the best in physical, emotional and spiritual care to those who are facing the challenges of a life-limiting illness, as well as their families. At Arkansas Hospice, that is our mission. As a nonprofit organization, we also believe that fear of costs should never prevent a person from having access to hospice care, and our patients are cared for regardless of ability to pay.

Always On Your Terms

It is possible that a patient will improve, resulting in discharge from hospice services. Or the patient or caregiver might decide to stop hospice care to seek aggressive, curative treatment. Hospice services can easily be resumed, if needed, at a later time. Hospice services are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, private insurance, private pay or through charitable care. This care is provided to all in need of our services regardless of age, sex, race, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, color, national origin, religion, citizenship status, veteran status, illness, handicap, disability or ability to pay.

If you would like to learn more about how you can help meet the needs of Arkansas Hospice patients and families that are not met by traditional means, please visit the Arkansas Hospice Foundation page. CLICK HERE.

Your Privacy: Please CLICK HERE for a copy of our HIPAA Privacy Notice.

The Arkansas Hospice Family of Care
14 Parkstone Circle | North Little Rock, AR 72116
(501) 748-3333 or Toll Free (877) 713-2348
contactus@arkansashospice.org
Arkanas Hospice Registered 501(c)(3). EIN: 71-0846826