Palliative care is specialized medical care that improves quality of life for patients with a chronic or advanced illness. This specialized care provides comfort and improves quality of life with a focus on relieving pain, suffering, stress and symptoms of living with a serious illness. Unlike hospice care, palliative therapy is not time-limited and does not require the patient to have a prognosis of six months or less to live.
The palliative care specialist at Angels Grace Hospice & Palliative Care provides palliative treatment to patients wherever they are such as in a private home, long-term care, assisted living facility and/or other settings.
Conditions for Palliative Care
Palliative services do not replace the patient’s primary treatment but rather work together with your primary care often as adjunct to curative care modalities.
This service may be provided concurrently with curative care modalities or independent of curative or life-prolonging care. Conditions must be in the form of a diagnosis and include chronic conditions such as:
- Cancer
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Lung Disease
- Congestive heart failure (CHF)
- Alzheimer’s / Dementia
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Stroke
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Kidney disease
- Other serious, chronic conditions
Palliative therapy is applicable while receiving other therapies intended to prolong life such as radiation and chemotherapy and is also appropriate during treatments intended to cure terminal illnesses such as transplants, curative surgeries or procedures.
Objectives
The objectives of Angels Grace Hospice & Palliative Care are to identify patients that qualify for supportive care and to explore methods for providing that care to appropriate patients and their families. Supportive therapy is for the living and focuses on living well with a serious illness. We focus on what the patient can do, not what they cannot do, providing holistic, “whole person” care.
This includes relieving physical symptoms such as pain, dyspnea (shortness of breath), weakness and nutritional needs as well as caring for psychosocial symptoms including emotional, intellectual, spiritual and cultural. Palliative medicine follows through all stages of a serious illness, enhancing quality of life for the patient and supporting the family with guidance and help with difficult conversations
Benefits Care
Comfort care provides many benefits to those suffering with a serious, chronic illness. Too often, patients may associate palliative with hospice and wait too long to seek care. The care provides many benefits to patients and their families such as:
- Relief from distressing symptoms and easing of pain
- Live a longer life with improved quality of life
- Attempts to minimize repeat hospitalizations
- Palliative therapy can help individuals to better tolerate treatments and gain strength
- Offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible
- Family and loved ones are better able to cope with the serious illness of a loved one, also improving quality of life
Angels Grace Hospice & Palliative Care provides coordinated services from an interdisciplinary therapy team trained in hospice and palliative medicine. If a patient’s condition worsens, a transition to hospice is seamless with the patient and family receiving as much support as possible.
Medicare, Medicaid, Private Insurance
This medical therapy is covered under palliative care Medicare Part B, Medicaid or private insurance companies. Under Medicare or Medicaid may require a copay and some treatments may not be covered. Private insurance carriers differ with coverage and benefits although most private insurance companies include end of life care as a covered service. Speak with your doctor if you have any questions or call our staff for more information.
Angels Grace Hospice provides hospice and palliative care services from trained professionals with an exceptional talent for providing comfort, dignity and peace. We communicate and collaborate with the patient, the family and the existing medical team. Contact us to learn more about highly trained, experienced and compassionate care.