Namaste Hospice to Provide Access to Free Medical Cannabis for Patients Who Qualify and Can Benefit from Its Use
Denver, CO, May 21, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Namaste Hospice, in its drive to provide leading edge services to manage symptoms of patients with terminal illness, has elected to offer access to medical cannabis (also known as medical marijuana) to patients who – based on a physician’s assessment – medically qualify and can benefit from it.
“We founded Namaste with the vision of shifting the paradigm regarding the way the world views serious and life-limiting illness, the process of decline and death itself. We believe that death is not a failure, but that rather living and dying well, on one’s own terms, is an ultimate success,” said Jan Bezuidenhout, President and Founder of Namaste. “One of our guiding principles is patient self determination, autonomy and choice. To this end Namaste respects the needs and desires of the patient and family before those of the health care system, staff, or the organization.” She concluded, “If cannabis can help us better manage the pain for our patients and at the same time eliminate the negative effects of morphine and similar drugs, then it is our obligation to offer that choice to our patients.”
In the State of Colorado, there are eight (8) qualifying conditions for which a person may qualify for medical cannabis. These include cancer, severe pain, glaucoma, severe nausea, HIV or AIDS, seizures, cachexia, and persistent muscle spasms. We estimate that over 90% of hospice patients across the State do qualify and could benefit from this medicine. The same cannot be said for many other prescribed opioids.
The cannabis plant from which the cannabis drug is derived has a long history of medicinal use with evidence dating back to 2,737 BC. Of interest in the world of symptom management, there is no lethal dose of cannabis. In over 4,700 years of use, no death from cannabis overdose has ever been recorded.
Medical cannabis is a physician-recommended therapy, as accepted by the American Medical Association and other leading voices in medicine. It has several well-documented beneficial effects used to control the symptoms often associated with terminal illness.
Medicinal qualities, such as relief from nausea and vomiting, relief from pain, and stimulation of appetite, are due to different combinations of active ingredients – aka cannabinoids – in the cannabis plant. While the best known of these active ingredients is THC, there are many other cannabinoids, such as CBD and CBN. Namaste Hospice will offer medical cannabis the same way it offers other medicines, usually by the oral route.
This program is a collaboration among Namaste Hospice, Americamm, Full Spectrum Labs, and a network of medical cannabis centers. Under this program, Dr. Barry Bialek, MD, Medical Director of Americamm (American Alliance for Medical Marijuana, www.americamm.org) will coordinate assessments of appropriate patients to determine if they meet the legal qualifications for medical cannabis and if, in fact, cannabis would be appropriate for the patient’s condition(s).
About Americamm
Americamm, based in Alma and Boulder, Colorado, serves to provide access to free medical cannabis for all hospice patients who qualify and request it. Serving as members of Namaste Hospice’s inter-disciplinary team, Americamm’s specially trained hospice volunteers will deliver this medicine. The cannabis used is donated – free of charge – by our member network of Colorado-based Medical Marijuana Centers (aka dispensaries). Furthermore, at no charge, Full Spectrum Labs, the industry leader in cannabis testing, will be testing for consistent dosing.
About Namaste
Namaste was founded in 1998, with the mission of providing high quality hospice services with a passion and focus on personalized custom care, designed to meet the needs and wishes of each individual patient. Namaste helps patients achieve comfort, retain dignity and improve the quality of life on their own terms. Through a variety of programs, we support, educate, and advocate for people with potentially life limiting or terminal illness. We empower them to define what quality of life means to them and help them realize it.
More information about Namaste Hospice is available online at www.namastehospice.com.
For more information contact Soto Flouris at 303-860-9915, email sflouris@namastehospice.com
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“We founded Namaste with the vision of shifting the paradigm regarding the way the world views serious and life-limiting illness, the process of decline and death itself. We believe that death is not a failure, but that rather living and dying well, on one’s own terms, is an ultimate success,” said Jan Bezuidenhout, President and Founder of Namaste. “One of our guiding principles is patient self determination, autonomy and choice. To this end Namaste respects the needs and desires of the patient and family before those of the health care system, staff, or the organization.” She concluded, “If cannabis can help us better manage the pain for our patients and at the same time eliminate the negative effects of morphine and similar drugs, then it is our obligation to offer that choice to our patients.”
In the State of Colorado, there are eight (8) qualifying conditions for which a person may qualify for medical cannabis. These include cancer, severe pain, glaucoma, severe nausea, HIV or AIDS, seizures, cachexia, and persistent muscle spasms. We estimate that over 90% of hospice patients across the State do qualify and could benefit from this medicine. The same cannot be said for many other prescribed opioids.
The cannabis plant from which the cannabis drug is derived has a long history of medicinal use with evidence dating back to 2,737 BC. Of interest in the world of symptom management, there is no lethal dose of cannabis. In over 4,700 years of use, no death from cannabis overdose has ever been recorded.
Medical cannabis is a physician-recommended therapy, as accepted by the American Medical Association and other leading voices in medicine. It has several well-documented beneficial effects used to control the symptoms often associated with terminal illness.
Medicinal qualities, such as relief from nausea and vomiting, relief from pain, and stimulation of appetite, are due to different combinations of active ingredients – aka cannabinoids – in the cannabis plant. While the best known of these active ingredients is THC, there are many other cannabinoids, such as CBD and CBN. Namaste Hospice will offer medical cannabis the same way it offers other medicines, usually by the oral route.
This program is a collaboration among Namaste Hospice, Americamm, Full Spectrum Labs, and a network of medical cannabis centers. Under this program, Dr. Barry Bialek, MD, Medical Director of Americamm (American Alliance for Medical Marijuana, www.americamm.org) will coordinate assessments of appropriate patients to determine if they meet the legal qualifications for medical cannabis and if, in fact, cannabis would be appropriate for the patient’s condition(s).
About Americamm
Americamm, based in Alma and Boulder, Colorado, serves to provide access to free medical cannabis for all hospice patients who qualify and request it. Serving as members of Namaste Hospice’s inter-disciplinary team, Americamm’s specially trained hospice volunteers will deliver this medicine. The cannabis used is donated – free of charge – by our member network of Colorado-based Medical Marijuana Centers (aka dispensaries). Furthermore, at no charge, Full Spectrum Labs, the industry leader in cannabis testing, will be testing for consistent dosing.
About Namaste
Namaste was founded in 1998, with the mission of providing high quality hospice services with a passion and focus on personalized custom care, designed to meet the needs and wishes of each individual patient. Namaste helps patients achieve comfort, retain dignity and improve the quality of life on their own terms. Through a variety of programs, we support, educate, and advocate for people with potentially life limiting or terminal illness. We empower them to define what quality of life means to them and help them realize it.
More information about Namaste Hospice is available online at www.namastehospice.com.
For more information contact Soto Flouris at 303-860-9915, email sflouris@namastehospice.com
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Namaste Hospice
Soto Flouris
303-860-9915
namastehospice.com
Soto Flouris
303-860-9915
namastehospice.com
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