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Palliative Care
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is holistic care of people with advanced progressive (life-threatening) illness. The purpose of palliative medicine is not to provide a cure. It is to reduce and control of the symptoms of a progressive illness or the side-effects of medical treatment. The management of pain - and other symptoms - and the provision of psychological, social and spiritual support are at the core of the program. A person under palliative care may still be seeking curative treatments for their ailment, but palliative care is provided to comfort the patient and improve their quality of life.
At Superior, palliative care is a specialized home care program. In most cases, the primary issue addressed in palliative care is medical pain management, though other therapies are frequently used to increase flexibility, reduce muscle tension, improve communication and facilitate normal activities. Palliative care employs all the tools of hospice (and home care) for the purpose of providing comfort and improving quality of life. In particular, it provides an inter-disciplinary team to address the full range of issues affecting patient comfort and ability to engage in meaningful activities.
Many people are familiar with hospice, which is a specialized form of palliative care; however unlike hospice, palliative care does not require that the patient have a terminal diagnosis (anticipating death within 6 months) nor does it require the patient relinquish all attempts to cure their disease. The over all goal of palliative care is to help the patient and their loved ones to cope with illness and treatment of it – from pre-diagnosis, through the process of diagnosis and treatment, to cure, continuing illness or death and into bereavement. This approach helps the patient to maximize the benefits of treatment and to live as well as possible with the effects of the disease. In particular, palliative care aims to:
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Provide relief from pain and other distressing symptoms,
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Integrate the psychological and spiritual aspects life into patient care,
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Generate a plan of care to help patients live as actively and fully as possible,
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Offer a support system to help loved ones cope during the patient's illness and in their own bereavement, and
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Affirm human life and regard dying as a normal life process.
Is Palliative Care Right for Me or My Loved One?
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Are you or your loved one facing a life-threatening progressive illness, such as cancer?
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Are you (or your loved one) severely limited by pain, discomfort, disability, treatment side effects or other symptoms when trying to carry out daily activities?
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Are you (or your loved one) homebound - that is you should only be leaving the home for doctor appointments or emergency medical care?
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Do you (or your loved one) require skilled nursing or therapy in order to treat your illness or relieve your symptoms?
If you answered yes to all four questions, you may be a candidate. Palliative care is often viewed as a program that is good for patients who are in between home care and hospice. If you (or your loved one) is faced with life-threatening illness, needs help to stay at home and has difficulty managing symptoms or side effects, but is still undergoing curative treatment for the illness, then palliative care may be an option.
Palliative care must be proscribed by a medical doctor; however, a home consultation with our staff may help by showing that you do qualify. Once a qualifying need has been established, our staff will work with your doctor and make all the necessary calls in order to care for your needs in a timely manner. In many instances, Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance will pay 100% of an individual's palliative care needs.
How Do I (or My Loved One) Qualify for Palliative Care?
As with any form of home care, the patient (you or your loved one) must be homebound. That means you or your loved one should only be leaving the home for doctor appointments or emergency medical care. Further, under most insurance plans the patient is also required to have a skilled medical need to qualify. That means that you or your loved one needs either assistance from a skilled nurse or a therapist - such as a physical, occupational or speech therapist.
Additionally, you or your loved one must be facing a life-threatening, progressive illness - like cancer - and require medical treatment specifically for relief of symptoms or side-effects. Palliative care can only be ordered by a medical doctor. This need may initially be established by a doctor, but it may also be identified by our staff during a home consultation and brought to your doctor's attention.
Once you or your loved one has been certified (qualified) for palliative care, we can continue to provide that care - along with other needed home care services - for as long as the illness progresses, symptom management is required, and you qualify for home care. You (or your loved one) will be reevaluated (re-certified) periodically during the course of treatment. When your medical situation improves - or declines to the point of needing hospice services - our staff will work with you prior to discharge to insure that you and your loved one continue to receive necessary care giver services even when palliative care is no longer required. In every case, we will work with your doctor and make all the necessary calls in order to provide for your needs in a timely manner.
These are all reasons to consider Superior Home Care & Hospice. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation, in-home nursing assessment. In Utah, dial 1-800-HOMECARE (1-800-466-3227), anywhere else dial 801-254-3200 or click here to use our on-line contact form. We can help.
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