Hospice Respite Care Services in Dallas & Fort Worth, TX

Respite care gives family caregivers a genuine break. Your loved one moves temporarily to a contracted Medicare-certified facility for up to five consecutive days, receiving 24-hour care, while you rest. Ameri Hospice arranges respite for families across Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and DFW. Call 972-499-4757 or start admissions.

Why Do Caregivers Need Respite?

Caring for someone at the end of life is physically and emotionally relentless. Sleep becomes broken. Meals get skipped. Your own appointments get canceled. Work, other children and your own health move steadily down the list.

Most caregivers keep going far past the point of exhaustion because stopping feels like failing. It is not. Respite care exists precisely because the system recognizes that a caregiver who collapses cannot care for anyone.

How Does Hospice Respite Care Work?

Your loved one is admitted to a contracted Medicare-certified facility — typically a hospice inpatient unit, hospital or skilled nursing facility with 24-hour nursing capability.

They receive round-the-clock care there for up to five consecutive days. Then they return home and routine scheduled home visits resume.

It can be arranged on a periodic or as-needed basis, and used more than once during a hospice stay.

What Do Families Use Respite Care For?

• Sleeping properly for several consecutive nights
• Attending to their own health — appointments long postponed
• A family wedding, graduation or funeral they would otherwise miss
• Traveling for something that cannot be moved
• Simply resting before the final stretch

None of these need justifying. Respite is a benefit you are entitled to, not a favor you are asking for.

What Is the Difference Between Respite and Inpatient Care?

These are different levels and get confused often.

Respite care is for the caregiver’s benefit. The patient’s symptoms are stable; the family needs relief.

Inpatient care is for the patient’s benefit. Symptoms have become unmanageable at home and require a higher level of clinical intervention.

If symptoms are the issue rather than caregiver fatigue, continuous care at home may be the better route.

What Does Respite Care Cost?

Respite care is covered under the Medicare hospice benefit. Most families pay nothing out of pocket, though a small daily coinsurance can apply. We explain any cost clearly before anything is arranged.

Asking Is Not Giving Up

Families frequently tell us they feel guilty even raising it. Please raise it anyway.

A rested caregiver is a better caregiver, and the days that matter most usually come at the end. Arriving at them depleted helps nobody.

Our social workers and chaplains can help you think it through if you are unsure, and volunteers can provide shorter in-home breaks between respite stays.

Serving Dallas, Fort Worth and DFW