Hospice is a special kind of care provided to people who are living with advanced illnesses, their families and their caregivers. Hospice treats the physical needs of patients and their emotional and spiritual needs as well. Care usually takes place in the home or in a home-like setting. Hospice concentrates on making patients as free of pain and as comfortable as they want to be so they can make the most of the time that remains to them. Hospice care also focuses on helping family members throughout the illness as well as after the patient dies.

More than a million patients and their families have utilized the services of hospice in the United States. Some 60 percent of all hospice patients have cancer, and many others have either heart disease or AIDS. However, regardless of patient's condition or age, hospices open their doors and their hearts to all terminally ill persons.

Many surviving family members say, "I do not know what I would have done without hospice." And many credit it with helping to make their final days with their loved ones warm and memorable.

Click here to read some of the heartwarming testimonials sent to Hospice of Charleston.