 Palliative care is a consultative service, helping to restore comfort and rekindle hope for people with chronic or debilitating illnesses. The palliative care team works with patients’ healthcare providers to manage the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs that accompany serious illness. Designed for people whose condition is hampering their quality of life, palliative care may go along with other treatments or therapies.
A nurse or a physician makes palliative care house calls, offering expert treatment of pain and other symptoms and providing guidance in making difficult treatment choices. A social worker and chaplain are also available to provide emotional and spiritual care, as needed. Visits take place in patients’ own homes, in long-term-care facilities or in local hospitals. Working with the patient’s physician, palliative care team members also provide patient and family education to help you better understand your condition and your medical care options. Palliative care is designed for patients with years to live. Palliative care patients are living with any type of chronic or debilitating illness, including:
Cancer
Congestive Heart Failure
Lung Disease
Kidney Failure
Liver Disorder
Parkinson's Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease or another form of dementia
Multiple Sclerosis
Heart Disease
and many others
Palliative care is not the same as hospice care. Palliative care is intended to help relieve the pain, symptoms, and stress of serious illness. It is appropriate for people of any age and at any point in an illness. It can be delivered along with care that is meant to cure you.
| Hospice |
Palliative Care |
| For patients who are dying, typically those with a life expectancy of six months or fewer |
Anyone with a chronic or debilitating illness |
| Services by nurses, medical social workers, doctors, certified nursing assistants, chaplains, counselor, volunteers |
Services provided by a nurse and a doctor; social worker and chaplain available, as needed |
| On-call staff available 24 hours a day |
Services provided during business hours |
| Hands-on care |
Consultative care and support |
Palliative care services are covered by Medicare and most private insurances; these services are provided, regardless of ability to pay. Caldwell Partnership for Palliative Care is a collaborative effort by Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care and Caldwell Memorial Hospital. |
How can you receive palliative care?
If you think that you could benefit from palliative care, please ask your attending physician for a referral to Caldwell Partnership for Palliative Care.
For more information, contact the Palliative Care Coordinator at (828) 754-0101 or pcc@caldwellhospice.org. |
