A nurse answers, any hour. Day, night, weekend. Call (409) 203-7477 Fax (409) 203-7742 Providers: refer a patient

Beaumont · Southeast Texas

Hospice care at home, across Southeast Texas.

Compassionate care that feels like family.

We care for people in the place they already call home, across Jefferson and Orange counties, plus Sour Lake and Lumberton in Hardin. All four Medicare levels of care, and a phone that a person answers at two in the morning.

For families & caregivers

Talk to a nurse, any hour

No cost, no obligation, no pressure.

(409) 203-7477

For physicians & facilities

Same-day admissions

Refer by phone or secure fax at (409) 203-7742.

Referral details
I need help now
2 +

Counties in full, plus part of Hardin

28

Communities we drive to

All 4

Medicare levels of care

24/7

A person answers the phone

Let’s clear something up

Hospice is not giving up.
It is choosing comfort.

Hospice is a Medicare benefit for someone whose doctor expects six months or less if the illness runs its usual course. It moves the goal from curing a disease to making a person comfortable, and it brings an entire team to the house to do it. Most families tell us the same thing afterward: we wish we had called sooner.

The myth

“Hospice means we’ve stopped trying.”

What’s true

People often feel better on hospice

Care doesn’t stop, it changes direction. Pain gets treated properly instead of cautiously. Breathing gets easier. Sleep comes back. Families regularly tell us their mom had better days in the first two weeks than she’d had in months.

The myth

“Hospice is a building you go to.”

What’s true

We come to wherever they already live

A house, an apartment, your spare bedroom, an assisted living unit, a nursing facility. Almost nobody moves. The nurse, the aide, the equipment and the medications all come to them.

The myth

“It’s too early. We’re not there yet.”

What’s true

Almost every family says they waited too long

Hardly anyone tells us they called too soon. Calling does not commit you to anything, and if it genuinely is too early we will say so plainly instead of signing your parent up.

The myth

“We’d have to give up our own doctor.”

What’s true

Their doctor can stay on the case

The physician your parent has trusted for years can keep following them and work alongside our medical director. Nothing about hospice requires cutting off a relationship that took a decade to build.

What we bring to the house

One team, built around one person

Right now you are probably the one holding all of this together, and doing it between work and your own family. Here is who starts showing up at the house, and everything on this list is something you stop having to manage yourself.

Pain & symptom management

Unhurried attention to pain, breathlessness, nausea, restlessness and anxiety, adjusted as often as it takes rather than on a monthly schedule.

Skilled nursing visits

Regular visits from a nurse who knows the whole story, plus a nurse reachable by phone every hour of every day, weekends and holidays included.

Personal care from aides

  • Bathing, grooming and dressing
  • Mouth care, repositioning and comfort
  • Familiar faces, not a rotating cast

Chaplain & spiritual support

  • Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, other faiths, or none at all
  • Present for whatever a person believes
  • We follow your lead, never ours

Social work & paperwork help

Advance directives, benefits, family meetings and the phone calls nobody wants to make. The practical weight comes off you.

Veteran benefits

Comfort therapies

  • Music and gentle touch
  • Volunteer companionship
  • The small things that turn a long afternoon into a good one
Respite for caregivers

Medications & equipment

  • Medications for the hospice diagnosis
  • Hospital bed, oxygen, wheelchair, supplies
  • Delivered and set up at the house

After-hours response

Nights, weekends, holidays. The two in the morning call is not an inconvenience, it is the job. You will reach a person, not a service.

Bereavement for the family

Support continues for a year after a death, through the first birthday, the first holiday and the anniversary. It does not stop the day your parent does.

Grief support

How it starts

Three steps, and we do most of the work

Nobody expects you to know how any of this works. That is what we are for.

You call, or a doctor refers

Anyone can start this. A patient, a daughter, a neighbor, a hospitalist, a facility nurse. No referral is needed just to ask questions.

We come out and explain everything

We visit, answer questions in plain language, and confirm eligibility and coverage before anyone signs anything.

Care begins, often the same day

Refer today and we admit within 24 hours. Equipment and medication get arranged by us, not by you.

The people who show up

A local team, not a call center

We are based in Beaumont and we staff this whole area ourselves. The nurse who picks up at two in the morning works for the same small agency that was in your mother’s living room that afternoon.

Crystal Waguespack, Chief Operating Officer at Ability Hospice

Crystal Waguespack

Chief Operating Officer

Runs the day-to-day operation, from staffing to admissions, and is a nurse before she is an executive.

Dr. Roussel Clement, Medical Director at Ability Hospice

Dr. Roussel Clement

Medical Director

Oversees every plan of care and works directly with your parent’s own physician, so nobody has to change doctors to come on service.

Lauren Reeves, Director of Nursing at Ability Hospice

Lauren Reeves

Director of Nursing

Leads the nursing team and the on-call rotation. The reason the same faces keep coming back to the house instead of a rotating cast.

Kim Jones, Business Development Specialist at Ability Hospice

Kim Jones

Business Development Specialist

The person hospitals, facilities and families reach first. Call her when you do not yet know what you are asking for.

Denise Mickens, Office Manager and CNA Coordinator at Ability Hospice

Denise Mickens

Office Manager and CNA Coordinator

Schedules the aide visits and keeps the paperwork moving, so the help arrives when it was promised.

Kerri Patterson, Licensed Vocational Nurse at Ability Hospice

Kerri Patterson

Licensed Vocational Nurse

Nursing visits at the house. Medication, symptoms, and the questions families save up between visits.

David Shirey, Chaplain at Ability Hospice

David Shirey

Chaplain

Spiritual support for any faith or none. Present for whatever a person believes, following your lead rather than his.

Where we go

Where our team goes

Private homes, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing facilities. We cover Jefferson and Orange counties in full, plus Sour Lake and Lumberton in Hardin County, including the rural communities that get told a service does not reach them.

Hardin County

Coverage

What we accept

For most families on Medicare, the hospice benefit covers the care, the visits, the medications related to the illness, and the equipment. We will confirm your specific coverage before care begins.

MedicareMedicaidVA benefitsCommercial insurancePrivate pay

Questions families ask

The things people call and ask first

If your question is not here, call and ask it. There is no cost to a conversation and no obligation.

Who pays for hospice care?

For most families, Medicare Part A covers it in full. That includes the visits, the nursing, the medications related to the terminal illness, the medical equipment and the supplies. Medicaid, VA benefits and most commercial insurance cover hospice as well. We confirm your specific coverage before care starts, so there is no surprise.

How do I know when it is time for hospice?

The usual signs are more trips to the hospital, weight loss, sleeping most of the day, needing help with bathing and dressing, or a doctor saying treatment is no longer working. A useful question to ask their physician is whether they would be surprised if your parent died in the next twelve months. Most families tell us afterward that they wish they had called sooner.

Does hospice mean we are giving up?

No. Care does not stop, it changes direction. Pain gets treated properly instead of cautiously, breathing gets easier and sleep often comes back. Families regularly tell us their parent had better days in the first two weeks on hospice than they had in months.

Where does hospice care actually happen?

Wherever your parent already lives. A house, an apartment, your spare bedroom, an assisted living apartment or a nursing facility. Almost nobody moves. The nurse, the aide, the equipment and the medications all come to them.

Can we keep our own doctor?

Yes. The physician your parent has trusted for years can stay involved and work alongside our medical director. Nothing about hospice requires cutting off a relationship that took a decade to build.

How quickly can hospice start?

Same day. Refer today and we admit within 24 hours. Anyone can start the conversation, including a patient, a daughter, a neighbour or a facility nurse, and no referral is needed just to ask questions.

What happens if my parent gets better?

People do improve on hospice, and that is a good outcome rather than a mistake. If someone stabilises or decides to pursue treatment again, they can leave hospice and return later if they need it. The benefit is not a one-way door.

What does hospice cover that we are paying for now?

Under the Medicare hospice benefit, medications for the terminal illness, the hospital bed, oxygen, wheelchair and supplies are delivered and set up at the house at no cost to you. For most families that replaces several bills at once.

For physicians, hospitals & facilities

Same-day admissions

Refer today and we admit within 24 hours. Send the provider details and we will call you back. Clinical information is taken by phone or secure fax, never by email or a web form.

All four levels of care. Routine and continuous home care, inpatient respite and general inpatient, the last two at local skilled nursing facilities across our service area.

Full referral details for providers

Phone
(409) 203-7477
Secure fax
(409) 203-7742
Office
1310 I-10, Suite 101, Beaumont, TX 77707
Hours
Office 9 to 5. The phone is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.