Most families picture hospice as the nurse, the aide, and the medicines. The team is larger than that, and one part of it is easy to skip until the house is quiet at night and someone wonders whether anyone will sit with them and pray. Ask about it before you need it. The questions are plain.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Who provides it
Ask who on the hospice team offers spiritual care, and whether that person is a chaplain, a social worker, or another trained member of the team. Ask whether those visits are scheduled the way nursing visits are or only when the family asks. Write down the name and a direct number, not only the office line.
What it covers
Ask whether spiritual care is part of the hospice benefit and included in the plan of care, or whether it is offered only in addition to the plan. Ask whether the visits are for the patient, for the family, or for both. Ask whether the care is tied to one faith or open to any belief, and what the team does when the patient or family holds no faith at all. A good answer is short and specific. A vague answer is a question to ask again, in writing if you can.
Your own clergy
Ask whether your own clergy or spiritual adviser may visit, how that visit is arranged, and whether the team will coordinate with them. Ask whether their visit can be set for a time that does not interrupt a nursing visit. Ask who makes the call: the family, the team, or the facility where the patient is staying. If the family has not decided whether to call anyone, that decision can wait, but ask now how a call would be made so that no one has to find out at 2am.
What to write down
Before you sign, put three things in the home binder: the spiritual-care name and direct number, the answer to whether the visits are part of the plan, and the steps for a family member to ask for a visit outside the scheduled day. Keep the page where a family member can find it at night without searching.
The federal hospice rule lists spiritual counseling among the services a hospice must make available, and the Sources page gives the places to read it yourself. Read it alongside the team's written answers, not in place of them.