Oak Place Homes offers Aromatherapy to our Hospice residents to assist them as they transition.

Since sense of smell is tied to memory and emotions, aromatherapy can evoke good memories and have a positive psychological response with our patients. Sometimes, patients who are agitated and unable to express themselves become calm and restful when aromatherapy oils are used. It can help control pain, stress and anxiety. Often simply smelling a certain fragrance can take a patient back to positive experiences throughout his or her life.

At Oak Place Homes patients have the opportunity to experience benevolent touch, a form of light touch massage therapy as part of their hospice care. The entire Oak Place Homes staff who interact with patients have been trained in benevolent touch, a type of therapy especially beneficial for patients with dementia or sensory loss due to aging.

Benevolent touch therapy consists of 10 techniques, beginning with massaging shoulders, back, hands, head and/or feet using light squeezes and flat palm circle movements.

BENEVOLENT TOUCH HAS BEEN SHOWN TO:

• Reduce feelings of anxiety

• Reduce feeling of loneliness and sensory deprivation

• Build trust and feeling of safety

• Improve relationships by increasing feelings of affection

• Reduce agitation and restlessness

• Improve circulation, energy level and the ability to sleep

The theory behind benevolent touch is that even though the mind deteriorates, the body remembers.

Massage therapy can ease pain, reduce feelings of isolation and calm emotions. For any of our residents enrolled in hospice , massage therapy is usually a lighter touch and a shorter session than traditional massage. The massage takes place wherever the patient is most comfortable and is often performed through the clothing. Massage therapy helps to decrease pain, increase circulation, and relax the patient. Massage therapy also enhances spiritual well-being and helps the patient become grounded in the present moment, while giving them an increased sense of self-acceptance and self-worth.

Music therapy is more than a music activity. It is the clinical and evidence-based use of music intervention by a board-certified music therapist. Sound affects our physical and emotional well being and affects heart rate, blood pressure, respirations, and release of the body’s natural painkilling chemicals. It assesses the strengths and needs of the patient and designs a plan of treatment that includes creating, singing, moving to and/or listening to live, patient-preferred music within individual, group and/or family sessions.

Because music is non-threatening, enjoyable and enhances brain function, people of diverse ages, backgrounds and abilities can gain therapeutic benefits through music therapy. When offered to those at the end-of-life, music therapy can bind with other healing efforts to address the physical, emotional, cognitive and social needs of hospice patients. While not appropriate for every hospice patient, music therapy can be surprisingly effective with an otherwise unresponsive patient.

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM HOSPICE MUSIC THERAPY?

Music therapy provides the most benefit to patients who:

1. Lack social interaction or lack adequate sensory stimulation due to dementia or functioning

2. Experience pain or other disease symptoms that are difficult to control through traditional medical interventions

3. Feel anxious or have times of agitation

4. Look for a concrete way to cope or to define or articulate feelings or thoughts

5. Face communication problems due to physical or intellectual impairments

6. Need spiritual support, possibly involving other family members

Pet therapy is a guided interaction between an individual and a trained animal. It also involves the animal's handler. The purpose of pet therapy is to help a patient cope with health issues. Pet therapy builds on the pre-existing human-animal bond. With this natural relationship, pet therapy can aid in progress towards a patient's goals of improved physical, social, emotional and cognitive functioning.

Some of the medically documented benefits of Pet therapy have been noted in areas like: lowering blood pressure, easing physical and emotional pain, improved memory, increased physical abilities, decreased anxiety and loneliness and at times improved interactions with others. There's nothing like a visit from a four-legged friend to distract patients from their current situation and to brighten their days with a smile.