---
title: "Hospice Care Services at Sutter Health"
description: "Sutter's hospice care offers compassionate end-of-life support, pain management and emotional care to enhance comfort and dignity at home."
url: "https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/hospice-care"
---

1.  [Home](https://www.sutterhealth.org/) /
2.  [Services](https://www.sutterhealth.org/services) /
3.  Hospice Care

# Hospice Care

Hospice provides dignity and comfort to people with a life-limiting illness through physical, spiritual and emotional care and support.

[Get Hospice Support](https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/home-health-hospice-locations)

## Why Choose Sutter Care at Home?

There may come a time when efforts to cure an illness aren’t working or when the treatment burdens outweigh the benefits. If you or a loved one need care during the final stages of life, our hospice services can help ease pain and suffering, cope with anticipatory grief and preserve your quality of life.

At Sutter, it’s our honor to provide people with compassionate hospice services. Your dedicated hospice team includes specially trained nurses, home aides, doctors, medical social workers, bereavement counselors and trained volunteers. We can also connect you with our chaplains for emotional and spiritual guidance that centers around your power of choice and peace of mind.

## By the Numbers

### 18

Counties

across Northern California receive our illness management and grief and bereavement support services.

### 4,600+

Family and Community Members

receive bereavement services — offered at no fee — each year.

### Level 5

We Honor Veterans Recognition

by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization for the highest level of commitment to veterans in their final stages of life.

### 250,000+

Hospice Patient Visits

annually by our team of nurses, physicians, social workers, chaplains, hospice aides and volunteers.

## Connect With Sutter Care at Home

Supporting you and your family is always our priority.

[Call Location Near You](https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/home-health-hospice-locations)

## Treatments

-   Aromatherapy
-   Art therapy
-   [Bereavement](https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/grief-bereavement-support)
-   Massage
-   Music therapy
-   Pain management
-   Reiki
-   Social workers
-   Spiritual support

![volunteer-hospice-helping-senior-in-wheelchair](https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/SutterHealth/Images/health-topics/senior-care/volunteer-hospice-helping-senior-in-wheelchair.jpg?h=1920&iar=0&w=2560)

## Volunteer Opportunities

Join a team that gives back. Our hospice volunteers generously give their time to provide companionship, respite for family members and office support for the care team.

[Submit Inquiry Form](https://feedback.sutterhealth.org/f/142265/159b/)

![volunteer-hospice-helping-senior-in-wheelchair](https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/SutterHealth/Images/health-topics/senior-care/volunteer-hospice-helping-senior-in-wheelchair.jpg?h=1920&iar=0&w=2560)

## Coping With Loss and Grief

Saying goodbye and honoring the spirit of a loved one helps you process grief. Find out the ways we guide you through grief.

## Sutter's Picks

Health & wellness

### [How to Choose the Right Hospice for You and Your Loved Ones](https://www.sutterhealth.org/health/how-choose-the-right-hospice)

Use these questions to help you choose the right hospice for you and your loved ones.

Health & wellness

### [Palliative Care and Hospice: What's the Difference?](https://www.sutterhealth.org/health/difference-between-palliative-care-and-hospice)

Palliative care and hospice provide practical, emotional and spiritual support during serious illness and the end of life.

Health & wellness

### [Advance Healthcare Directives: Make Your Wishes Known](https://www.sutterhealth.org/health/advanced-healthcare-directives)

Make sure doctors and family members can follow your healthcare wishes if you are unable to speak for yourself.

## Find a Doctor

Find your Sutter Health doctor.

[Find a Doctor](https://www.sutterhealth.org/find-provider)

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{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Sutter Care at Home - Coping with Loss and Grief","thumbnailUrl":"https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/817826402001/11653ac7-2380-4b4e-b3c6-6a01463dd473/68677e71-11b2-4429-b59a-487e21fe6dae/1280x720/match/image.jpg","uploadDate":"2021-03-09T00:55:05.404Z","embedUrl":"https://players.brightcove.net/817826402001/79bcaa57-54d7-453c-9f1f-8ab3ef7b15de/index.html?videoId=6238080584001","description":"Sutter Care at Home offers bereavement and grief support services for our hospice families and our communities.","duration":"PT12M34S","transcript":"[MUSIC PLAYING]\nJOHN COMPAGLIA: This work of grief and bereavement\ncounseling is really important to me.\nIt's important on the one hand because it's\nsuch an honor, and really a sacred duty,\nI think, on my part, to be present in caring\nand understanding with people as they\ngo through one of the most difficult times of their life.\nKRISTINA SWANSON: Well, grief is a very transformative process.\nAnd we grieve deeply because we love deeply.\nKRISTIN KING: All we can do is help each other,\nconnect with one another, and to create special sacred moments\nwhen we can.\nSARAH HICKMAN: One of the most important things\nthat we teach in our program about grief\nis that it happens to everyone.\nIt is a natural part of human life.\nAnd yet, people feel so sometimes\nashamed or fearful to come in and ask for help.\nADA TERRY-AINA: One of the things\nthat I really appreciate about what Sutter Care at Home does\nis that our services are free.\nAnd they're offered not just to our clientele\nbut to the community at large.\nSTACY CARR: We need to heal from grief as a community.\nI remember the words of Helen Keller.\nShe said, we are not alone.\nWe bereaved are the largest company\nin all the world, the company of those who have known loss.\nAnd if we can remember that and reach out and get the support\nwe deserve, then we have a chance\nto come together through this stronger.\n\nJOHN COMPAGLIA: Sutter Care at Home Hospice\nhas nine locations in Northern California.\nAnd we offer free bereavement services\nto the loved ones of our patients who have died,\nas well as the community.\nThere is one-on-one grief counseling.\nWe also offer a variety of grief groups.\nSometimes we call the first year the year\nof firsts, because there's these really big and important days,\nsuch as holidays, birthdays, anniversaries.\nAnd these days are significant because of the history\nthat we each bring to them.\nSo when they come up for the first time\nwithout our loved one, the grief can just really hit us hard.\nI want people to know that this is a very caring process.\nThis is not an invasive process.\nKRISTINA SWANSON: Grief is universal,\nbut it affects us all differently.\nIt's very individual, based on personality\nor the significance of the relationship to the mourner.\nSo it's really important to find ways\nthat feel comfortable to you and to give yourself\npermission to change some of those traditions that\nmight be unbearable to move forward with at this time.\nIt's really important to acknowledge cultural influences\nwhen someone is grieving.\nWhat might feel normal to one culture\nmight seem strange to another.\nAnd so it's really important to ask questions\nabout what feels acceptable to your family.\nAre there cultural mourning periods in place?\nAre there religious traditions practiced?\nIt's about meeting people where they are in their journey\nand asking and not telling them, this\nis how you should be coping.\nBecause it's really personal.\nSo being able to bear witness to someone else's\npain in their most vulnerable time,\nand then seeing them grow and change,\nis really meaningful and powerful work.\nIt just fills you with a lot of gratitude\nto see people change over time from their lowest point\nto be able to smile again.\n\nSTACY CARR: So we're very involved in our community.\nWe go into workplaces to help the workers when\na co-worker has died suddenly.\nWe go into schools when there's been a crisis and students\nand faculty are suffering.\nWe look for ways that our community needs us.\nWhen grief happens on a community level,\nit's actually a little bit easier to grieve,\nbecause people come together to support each other.\nAnd that's what we need when we're grieving.\nThe best way to help people who are grieving\nis to just be there for them, just to listen, just\nto give them encouragement when they're\nlosing their hope that they're going to get through this.\nWe think there's some magic words we need to say\nor something big we have to do.\nBut it's always in the little things,\ndoing little things for them, anticipating something\nthey might need, maybe taking them a meal\nor taking out their garbage if you're their neighbors,\nsomething small.\nIt's not in something big.\nIt's always in something small.\nWhen we think we can take away their pain,\nwhen we think we can fix it all for them by saying\nthe right things, then we're minimizing their grief\nand what they're going through.\nAnd it's unintended but we hurt them in that way,\nand they close down from us.\nAll we need to do is listen and believe what they say to us\nand just be there to say, you're going to get through this.\nYou will.\nIt's just hard right now.\nAnd that means more than we know to them.\nADA TERRY-AINA: Grief really is the price that we pay for love.\nAnd so children are capable of giving and receiving love,\njust like an adult is.\nBut the difference between intervention\nfor a child versus an adult is the fact\nthat children are still developing.\nAnd so therefore, they're still gaining\nthe skills of how to internal control and all\nof those things.\nAnd so that's why it's critical for them\nto be offered intervention support,\nbecause they're still in those developmental stages.\nIf kids have the opportunity to share their story,\nthey're going to have the opportunity\nto heal from the pain of the loss.\nParents are going to be their child's best advocate.\nAnd by observing their child, they'll\nknow that their child is feeling more withdrawn,\nthey may be wanting to cling to that parent even more so,\nor isolate.\nAnd so I explain to parents also that a lot\nof times when they're going through that grief,\nthe same behavior that the parent is modeling\nis the same behavior that their child is modeling.\nSo if the parents are saving face\nbecause they're trying to be strong in front of that child,\nthe child's doing the same thing.\nAnd so we teach parents that strength is to be vulnerable,\nthat is strength.\nI tell you, every experience with every one of my kids,\nit's all unique.\nAnd they know that Ms. Terry wants\nto see them grow and thrive and have peace through what they've\nbeen through.\nSARAH HICKMAN: : The children's bereavement art group is an art\ntherapy group open to all members of the community,\nchildren ages 4 through 17 who have experienced the death\nof a significant person in their life.\nArt therapy can really help get to the core of concerns\nvery quickly.\nIt can also make sessions a lot more approachable.\nSometimes people that might feel fearful about coming in\nfor therapy or treatment, as it's sometimes called,\nart therapy can make it feel really comfortable and fun.\nAnd yes, sometimes it is used more actively in the session,\nwhere all we're doing is making art together.\nOr sometimes it's used more passively,\nwhere we're really talking and making\nart alongside our conversation.\nArt actually has a lot of benefits.\nIt can improve our mood, reduce stress.\nIt can help us problem solve.\nAnd you don't need to have access to an art therapist\nto get some of those therapeutic benefits at home.\nAt home, the luminaria project is a great opportunity\nfor the family to come together and do something\nin honor of the loved one, sit around the table,\nget supplies out, talk, maybe even have some snacks.\nSo a luminaria, or as some people call it, a luminary,\nis a paper bag with a light inside.\nSo it can be just a simple bag like this.\nAnd you can put an LED tea light.\nAnd this project is really special\nbecause it can just bring light to a very difficult time\nin your life and it's something that you\ncan return to year after year.\nSo what we recommend is to take the bag\nand to use scissors to create holes\nso the light can shine through.\nThe final project might look something like this.\nYou could decorate the luminaria with gems, sparkles.\nI used butterflies.\nButterflies are often seen in the art\nof grieving children and families because they're\na symbol for transformation and growth.\nWhen you make your luminaria, you put the tea light inside.\nAnd you could also put a picture of your loved one\non the outside.\nYou could write a note to them.\nAnd you could place this in a spot in your home\nwhere maybe you have some photos of them\nor belongings of theirs.\nAnd like I mentioned, you could return to this year after year\nand kind of create a ritual around it.\nCreating ritual is a very important part\nof expressing grief in a healthy way.\nAnd this is really something that the whole family\ncan do together.\nKRISTIN KING: Music belongs to everybody.\nYou can use music by connecting with others through music.\nSo sharing music with one another\nas a way to communicate your thoughts, your feelings,\nyour experiences.\nMusic is also really very strongly\nconnected to our memories.\nSo using music as a way to remember, to reminisce.\nAnd that can be true of just our lives in general,\nbut that can also be true in bereavement.\nSo using it as a way to remember and to honor\nthe spirit of someone that you're remembering.\nYou can use music more beneficially\nby using it actively.\nSo that would be making specific playlists\nthat you control that you specifically\nadd certain songs into them to help with a certain need.\nSo maybe that's helping you to connect\nwith a specific emotion.\nSo maybe you have a playlist that helps you relax\nor helps you with anxiety or helps you go to sleep.\nSo the use of purposeful playlists\nmight be one thing that you can do at home\nthat would be beneficial.\nWe tend to use music-assisted relaxation.\nWe use a lot of songwriting with patients.\nSo using songwriting as a way to explore what someone's\ngoing through and using the song as a space to hold those\nexperiences.\nJOHN COMPAGLIA: I really want you to remember that you're not\nalone in your grief.\nPlease reach out to friends and family,\nhelp them support you through this time.\nAnd we here at Sutter Care at Home really\nwant you to know that we're here for you\nand we want to be here for you.\nSo please, call on us for help.\n[MUSIC PLAYING]\n(SINGING) We remember you.\n\nWe remember you.\n\nWe remember your light.\nWe remember you.\n\nWe remember you.\n\nWe remember your light.\n\nWe remember you."}
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