Admission to Teresa House is based on need with preference given to residents who cannot be cared for safely at home. The resident’s personal physician will have determined that they are in the last stages of life due to a terminal illness. Referrals are welcomed from area hospitals, physicians, social workers, family members, and Livingston County Hospice. Hands-on resident care is provided around the clock, along with meals, laundry, companionship, as well as emotional, social and spiritual support through volunteers, nurses and social workers. A comfort care environment ensures that pain management, and symptom control will accompany a natural death process, in an atmosphere filled with love.

General Criteria

Diagnosis of terminal illness: Comfort Care does not cure or change the course of a terminal illness.
Prognosis of three months or less: In general, the stay at Teresa House is limited to 3 months. Assessment of the need for comfort care is continuous.
Our primary goal is to provide comfort care, symptom control and pain management for our residents and be a source of respite care for our families.
Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order in place: no life sustaining measures will be implemented. For example: no CPR.
We do not manage IV’s, feeding tubes, intramuscular or subcutaneous injections (this includes insulin), or difficult behavioral needs.
No extraordinary care needs: residents must be able to be safely and comfortably cared for by staff and volunteers.
Understand that Teresa House is primarily staffed by volunteers, both male and female.
We provide the kind of care you would give a loved one in your own home.
Resident care at Teresa House is guided by a Nursing Supervisor, who works hand in hand with Livingston County Hospice (LCH), to evaluate referrals, admit residents, and oversee their long-term care.
Livingston County Hospice has a direct line to the resident’s primary care physician should any changes in their condition require medication or treatment changes. For more information, please contact the Livingston County Department of Health: (585) 243-7290.
Livingston County Hospice will bill health insurance agencies to cover the payment of comfort care drugs, supplies, equipment and the overnight certified hospice aide.
No financial requirements. Teresa House does not receive any reimbursement from insurance companies for your loved one’s care. Teresa House does not bill for its services.
Unfortunately, Teresa House is unable to accept every person who is referred. Each case is evaluated carefully and priority is given to those people who do not have safe care available to them. Other considerations involve the complexity of nursing care that some people may require. Priority is given to those with the greatest need and fewest options

See a listing of other area Comfort Care Homes