The Hospice Education Institute serves a wide range of individuals and organizations interested in improving and expanding hospice and palliative care throughout the United States and around the world.

The Institute works to inform . . . to educate . . . and to support . . . people seeking or providing care for the dying and the bereaved, or themselves coping with far advanced illness, or with loss.

Over 3,000 local hospice and palliative care programs in the United States offer specialized care to people suffering from fatal illnesses, such as cancer. Working in close cooperation with the patient's doctor, the hospice team of trained health professionals and community volunteers helps each patient with symptom relief (especially control of pain), skilled nursing; emotional support; pastoral care if requested; and practical assistance with everyday tasks. Hospice care always remembers family members, before and after the death of the patient. Good hospices are rooted in, and responsive to, the communities they serve.

Hospice care is provided at home, in a hospital, or in a nursing home, depending on the patient's choice and circumstances, and on the local hospice's services. Some hospices now have their own residences or inpatient units.

Hospice is a philosophy of caring which values the dignity and worth of each person, and good hospice care is the practical expression of that commitment.

Although hospices care for people nearing death, hospices cherish and emphasize life, by helping patients (and those who love them and care for them) live each precious day to the fullest.