Palliative Care
Palliative Care
What is palliative care?
Palliative care helps people with serious illnesses feel better by preventing or treating symptoms and side effects of disease and treatment. When a loved-one reaches the stage where treatment is no longer possible and moves into the phase of palliative care it can be a very difficult time for the patient and the family. We understand this and offer an option to help make this transition easier for everyone.
Palliative care may be offered for people with illnesses, such as:
- •Cancer
- •Heart disease
- •Lung diseases
- •Kidney failure
- •Dementia
- •HIV/AIDS
- •Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
While receiving palliative care, people can remain under the care of their regular health care provider and still receive treatment for their disease.
Who Gives Palliative Care?
Any provider can give palliative care. But some providers specialize in it. Palliative care may be given by:
- •A team of doctors
- •Nurses and nurse practitioners
- •Physician assistants
- •Registered dietitians
- •Social workers
- •Psychologists
- •Massage therapists
- •Chaplains
- •Palliative care may be offered by hospitals, home care agencies, cancer centers, and long-term care facilities. Your provider or hospital can give you the names of palliative care specialists near you.
The Difference Between Palliative Care and Hospice
Both palliative care and hospice care provide comfort. But palliative care can begin at diagnosis, and at the same time as treatment. Hospice care begins after treatment of the disease is stopped and when it is clear that the person is not going to survive the illness.
Hospice care is most often offered only when the person is expected to live 6 months or less.
What Does Palliative Care Include?
A serious illness affects more than just the body. It touches all areas of a person’s life, as well as lives of that person’s family members. Palliative care can address these effects of a person’s illness.
Physical problems. Symptoms or side effects include:
- •Pain
- •Trouble sleeping
- •Shortness of breath
- •Loss of appetite, and feeling sick to the stomach
Treatments may include:
- •Medicine
- •Nutritional guidance
- •Physical therapy
- •Occupational therapy
- •Integrative therapies
- •Emotional, social, and coping problems. Patients and their families face stress during illness that can lead to fear, anxiety, hopelessness, or depression. Family members may take on care giving, even if they also have jobs and other duties.
Other treatments may include:
- •Counseling
- •Support groups
- •Family meetings
- •Referrals to mental health providers
- •Practical problems. Some of the problems brought on by illness are practical, such as money- or job-related problems, insurance questions, and legal issues.
A palliative care team may:
Explain complex medical forms or help families understand treatment choices
Provide or refer families to financial counseling
Help connect you to resources for transportation or housing
Spiritual issues. When people are challenged by illness, they may look for meaning or question their faith. A palliative care team may help patients and families explore their beliefs and values so they can move toward acceptance and peace.
Tell your provider what bothers and concerns you most, and what issues are most important to you. Give your provider a copy of your living will or health care proxy.
Ask your provider what palliative care services are available to you. Palliative care is almost always covered by health insurance, including Medicare or Medicaid. If you do not have health insurance, talk to a social worker or the hospital’s financial counselor.
Learn about your choices. Read about advance directives, deciding about treatment that prolongs life, and choosing not to have CPR (do not resuscitate orders).