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Palliative Care and Hospice

      What is Palliative Care?

Palliative Care is not limited to terminally ill patients. Patients are at different stages of illness, from active treatment to recovery to noncurative care. As a result, each care plan is as unique as the individual it was created for.
    Palliative Care is a team approach to caring for patients and their families, with advanced illness. This model of care focuses on relieving suffering and improving quality of life while the patient is receiving all other appropriate treatments for their illness.
    By gathering a team of experts, like doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, dietitians and pastoral care professionals, palliative care services are able to provide a holistic approach to care that other disciplines cannot.
    Palliative  care also works closely with caregivers because they face a tremendous challenge caring for their loved one. We can help search for community support resources and provide counseling to help ease their burden.

    Hospice

    Hospice of Summa offers uncompromising quality care to terminally ill patients and the people who love and care for them.  While providing support to the patient and their family, our services allow everyone to live each day to the fullest.  Hospice focuses on providing medical, psychosocial, emotional and spiritual support for terminally ill patients and their families.  Most hospice services are provided in the patient’s home, enabling families to remain together where they are most comfortable.
     Who is Eligible?
    A person is eligible for hospice care once he or she agrees to comfort-oriented (noncurative) care. Their physician also agrees this level of care is most appropriate.  Although most care occurs in the patient’s home, short-term inpatient care for pain and other symptoms is available together with respite care.

     Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the difference between hospice and palliative care?
A. Although hospice and palliative care are similar in their comfort-orientation, there are distinct differences between the two types of care.
   Palliative care can be provided at any point in the course of an illness where aggressive pain management and symptom control is needed.
   Hospice is a system of care for those patients who have a limited life expectancy and have elected to receive comfort-oriented (noncurative) care.

Q. Do the Palliative Care Consult Service and the Hospice of Summa Team work with my doctor?
A.  Yes, both teams will work very closely with your personal physician.
   
Q .    I’ve heard that palliative care teams try to convince patients to stop treatment. Is this true?
A.     No. The vast majority of patients benefit from palliative care during any course of their treatment. In fact, studies show palliative care helps cancer patients complete their treatment while improving their quality of life.
   
Q. Isn’t palliative care only for actively dying patients?
A.  Palliative care is for any patient who needs aggressive treatment of pain and other uncomfortable symptoms at any stage of a complex illness.

Q. Where is the hospice located?
A.     Hospice is a philosophy of care rather than a “place.” In fact, the majority of care provided by hospice teams (more than 90 percent) is provided in the comfort of the patient’s home or assisted living facility.

Q.     Doesn’t receiving hospice care mean that you have “given up hope”?
A.     No. “Getting well” is not always the same as “getting better.” Hope for many patients equates to an expectation of a greater quality of life. Many hospice patients feel more in control and more comfortable as a result of their care.

Palliative Care & Hospice of Summa

    Summa’s Hospice and Palliative Care Services focus on treating the patient and the family, not the disease.  The services provide treatments that enhance comfort and quality of life for patients with a broad range of conditions.

    Dedicated professionals and volunteers work together with the patient and their loved ones to develop a plan of     care, emphasizing quality and comfort.  Based on the patient’s needs and wishes, and their physician’s recommendations, the team provides the appropriate level of care for each patient.

    How can Palliative Care Help Me?

    Alleviating pain and symptoms from treatment is one of Palliative Care’s most important goals. Working with a patient’s physician, we can provide relief from symptoms related to treatment such as pain, nausea, fatigue and breathlessness. But, a patient must also understand the issues surrounding their pain in order to effectively treat it. For example, treating a patient’s feelings of helplessness, depression, anxiety or social concerns through counseling or other services can help treat pain as effectively as a pill.

    Acute Palliative Care Unit

    Summa’s Acute Palliative Care Unit services embrace a variety of medical and therapeutic disciplines that work together to create an individualized plan of care to meet the needs of each patient.  The unit, located on the Akron City Hospital campus, features 12 private rooms, two family rooms, a spa room for patients, a small communal kitchen for families and a community room for private meetings with families and support groups.  The state-of-the-art unit offers the same equipment found in an acute care setting inside a soothing and comforting environment.  The holistic approach is better suited to the palliative care patients than the care that is possible elsewhere in an acute hospital setting.

Sheri Myrick shares her experience

For more information about Summa’s Palliative Care, call 330- 379-5100.

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 Source: Summahealth.org