Hospice Care
When curative treatment stops, it’s time to call Hospice.
Involving Hospice Care earlier means a
better quality of life for you and your loved one.
Hospice Care is specialized medical care providing pain and symptom management, emotional, and spiritual support to patients of all ages (including Pediatric Patients) who no longer seeking curative treatment and for whom life expectancy is 6 months or less. This care is provided by an interdisciplinary team of Four Seasons hospice professionals including Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, CNAs, Social Workers, Chaplains, a Music Therapist, Volunteers, and other specialists who work together with your primary health care provider. Four Seasons is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help you and your loved ones navigate your care needs.
Why Choose Four Seasons?
Serving 13 counties in Western North Carolina, Four Seasons is one of the premier Hospice and Palliative care providers in the country. As Four Seasons has grown, our reputation for high quality of care has earned national recognition, achieving Deemed Status in the 2021 Joint Commission Survey, awarded Hospice Honors for a high level of quality care, and bestowed the Circle of Life Award, awarded for Four Seasons provision of innovative care. Staff members regularly present at national conferences on the specialized services and research our agency provides.
Because we are a non-profit healthcare organization, we are free to truly focus on the patient, and to provide care to everyone, no matter of their ability to pay.
When Hospice Care is recommended, please know you ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE, even if our name isn’t mentioned. Ask for Four Seasons by name.
Questions About Hospice
Who Provides Care?
Care is provided by an interdisciplinary team of Four Seasons hospice professionals including Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, CNAs, Social Workers, Chaplains, a Music Therapist, Volunteers, and other specialists who work together with your primary health care provider. Four Seasons is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help you and your loved ones navigate your care needs.
Who Needs Hospice Care?
Hospice Care may increase the quality of life and provide comfort to patients of any age with a life expectancy of 6 months or less and who are no longer seeking curative, life-prolonging treatment. Four Seasons Hospice Care provides care to individuals of all ages, including pediatric patients.
Where is Care Provided?
Hospice Care is provided wherever the patient receives care – a private home, nursing center, assisted living community, hospital, and when symptoms cannot be managed elsewhere, our Elizabeth House. It is provided in all of the counties that Four Seasons serves: Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, and Transylvania.
When do I call Hospice Care? Is it just for the last days?
We recommend you call as soon as possible. You or your loved one does not have to be in your final days to be provided Hospice Care. Medicare provides a six month hospice benefit –not six weeks, not six days; which is a common misconception. Often people who receive Hospice Care in fact live longer than six months and live a fuller, more pain free life. Studies show that patients who receive Hospice Care may actually live longer.
Why Should You Choose Four Seasons?
For over 42 years, Four Seasons has been providing serious illness care to Western North Carolina. As an award-winning, nationally recognized non-profit organization, Four Seasons is known for fast response times, compassionate care, and for making our patients a priority over all else.
What is Hospice Care?
What Are the Levels of Care Available in Hospice?
How Does Hospice Care Help?
We provide pain and symptom management, emotional and spiritual support, as well as grief counseling for the patient, caregiver and family. Some of the ways in which we help are to:
- Support patient and family goals and wishes
- Manage pain, symptoms, and medications
- Provide comfort care
- Facilitate complex decision making through a supportive interdisciplinary team
- Provide Grief Support and Spiritual Care for Family members
How is Hospice Care Paid For?
- Commercial Insurance
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Private Pay
- VA
- Four Seasons Foundation
Hospice Information, Articles & Resources
Care Wherever You Call Home
Authors: Dr. Ruth Thomson, Four Seasons Chief Medical Officer When people think of hospice care, they often picture care in a hospice inpatient unit or hospice house, like Four Seasons’ Elizabeth House, where hospice patients receive 24-hour care provided by hospice...
Cardiac Care at Four Seasons
Authors: Dr. Ruth Thomson, Four Seasons Chief Medical Officer, and Leisl Vale, Four Seasons Marketing Coordinator In partnership with the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) and the American Heart Association (AHA), Four Seasons is...
Hospice Care Helps You Be at Home for the Holidays
If you or a loved one needs Hospice Care, don't wait until after the Holidays. Having Hospice Care means support for the caregiver and comfort for the patient. It gives you and your loved one the chance to embrace these moments and live them with more comfort and...
National Hospice and Palliative Care Month
Four Seasons is grateful to be a leading provider of Palliative and Hospice Care in thirteen counties in Western North Carolina. During November, which is recognized as National Palliative and Hospice Care Month, we are dedicated to increasing awareness and providing...
Hospice Myths & Questions Answered
Is Hospice a Place? Hospice is not a place, but rather an approach to care designed to enhance life and can be provided wherever you call home. This could be a private residence, assisted living community, or nursing center. Does involving Hospice Care mean we are...
The Power of Music Therapy
When COVID-19 rolled into Western North Carolina, questions about how best to care for our community took on a different tone. Hospice families welcome us not only into their homes, but also into emotionally and medically difficult times in their lives. I will never...
Four Seasons Named a 2022 Hospice Honors Recipient
Four Seasons Named a National 2022 Hospice Honors Recipient Four Seasons has been named a 2022 Hospice Honors recipient by HEALTHCAREfirst, a leading provider of billing and coding services, CAHPS surveys, and advanced analytics. Hospice Honors is a prestigious,...
When is it Time for Hospice Care? Many Say They Wish They’d Called Sooner
As the caretaker for a loved one with a terminal disease, it's often difficult to make the decision of when to arrange for Hospice Care. Many wait until the final days and then realize the care is such a great help, it could have helped them have less stress, more...
Resources for Patients & Families
Resources for Providers
Please note that all Palliative and Hospice care referrals should be faxed to 855.355.4067.
Testimonials
Learning to Stand Again
After losing his wife, Robin, Bill Tankersley struggled to stand again. Through volunteering at Four Seasons, Bill slowly found his purpose again. Read about how volunteering and supporting the people who cared so dearly for his wife helps Bill to push through even...
Blessed by Care, Wisdom, & Ongoing Support
As shared by David Riddle, Spouse of Hospice Patient My wife, Peggy Riddle, entered hospice care in October 2019 and entered heaven on February 8, 2020. Throughout that time, our family was repeatedly blessed by the care, wisdom, and ongoing support from Peggy’s care...
For More Information
To learn more about Four Seasons Hospice Care services, and should you like our assistance in speaking with your doctor about Hospice Care, please call us at 828.692.6178 or 866.466.9734 (toll-free).
Request Hospice Care
To speak to someone right away, please call
Local: 828.692.6178
Toll Free: 866.466.9734