What Is Palliative Care
You are probably familiar with cardiology and pediatrics, but palliative care is a medical specialty that is discussed much less frequently, yet it is just as important. In short, palliative care is a type of comprehensive medical treatment for people dealing with serious illnesses and diseases. A dedicated team of trained and certified individuals work together to help the patient deal with the physical and emotional symptoms of their condition. The goal of palliative care is to improve a patient’s quality of life while also providing support for loved ones.
Examples of Palliative Care
The type of palliative care that is received varies greatly from patient to patient. The key factor is meeting the needs of the patient. Here are some of the things that a palliative care team may provide:
- Prescribe medications to ease symptoms, pain, anxiety, or depression.
- Discuss the patient’s goals and what they hope to achieve from their care.
- Combat the patient’s stress with different methods, such as massage therapy or counseling.
- Talk with the patient’s family about what the future may hold and what choices may need to be made.
- Provide peace of mind for both the patient and family.
- Treat the body, mind, and spirit of the patient.
Who Can Benefit from Palliative Care?
Palliative care is for anyone who is dealing with a serious illness. It doesn’t matter if the patient is one year old or 101 years old, or if they were just diagnosed with cancer or are in the fifth stage of Parkinson’s. If someone has been diagnosed with a long-lasting or life-threatening disease they may want to seek out palliative care.
Is Hospice Care the Same Thing?
Even though both hospice and palliative care seek to ease the pain of the patient and keep them as comfortable as possible, these two types of treatment are not the same. Hospice care comes into play when curative treatment is no longer an option and the patient is expected to live for less than six months. On the contrary, palliative care can be given in conjunction with traditional medical care, and it can be temporary or intermittent—it is not reserved just for terminal patients.
How We Can Help
The palliative care program is an amazing resource for those dealing with life-altering illnesses, and since it is about treating the whole being, the services at Connecticut In-Home Assistance are the perfect counterpart. We can help improve the patient’s emotional state by providing companionship and conversation, their spiritual state by driving them to church or to their favorite sanctuary, and their physical state by stepping in and taking care of the light housekeeping and cleaning duties.
The services at Connecticut In-Home Assistance go hand-in-hand with palliative care to ensure that the patient has the best quality of life possible for the duration of their illness—however long that may be.
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