Palliative Care

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Palliate means to ease. The Palliative Care Program at MountainView Regional Medical Center focuses on lessening the suffering of patients going through a serious illness. The main goal of palliative care is to relieve patients’ pain and discomfort as well as their loved ones’ stress. Palliative care includes symptom treatment, even when the underlying disease cannot be cured. This additional resource is used during those times that seriously ill patients and their families need a little extra support. Palliative care is appropriate at any age and for any stage in a serious treatment.

The team at MountainView Regional Medical Center includes the physicians involved in a patient’s care, as well as nurses, case managers and pharmacists on the hospital staff. Palliative care is provided simultaneously with other medical treatments. It addresses both the patient’s and their significant other’s needs. We consider emotional, social and spiritual needs as well. The purpose is to help the patients and their loved ones achieve a better quality of life.

Palliative care may be especially helpful for someone dealing with a serious illness if he/she has pain, trouble breathing or other distressing symptoms that could require readmission to the hospital. It may be appropriate for someone with a chronic medical condition, such as cancer, heart failure, AIDS, liver, lung, kidney problems and/or dementia, someone with a previous chronic disease, or someone who is seriously ill and is facing questions about the future.

MountainView Regional Medical Center’s palliative care is covered by most insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicaid. Palliative care is available any time during a patient’s hospital stay, and it includes:

• Symptom management, including relief of pain and symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, breathlessness, depression and anxiety
• Assistance and support in making difficult medical decisions
• Coordination of care and treatment with doctors
• Striving to improve quality of life
• Emotional and spiritual support for the patient and their family

Palliative care is meant for any patient who is struggling with a complex disease process that could use additional support and resources, but it is not the same as hospice. The team will work with patients and families dealing with difficult medical decisions, and can help identify additional resources in the community.