Palliative Care Services
Bridges Palliative Care centers the patient, not the disease, as the main focus of care. While their illness/disease is an important factor in their lives, their health conditions do not define them. They are not “a COPD patient” or “Congestive Heart Failure patient”, they are a person who happens to have COPD or Congestive Heart Failure.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is specialized care for people living with serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and their family. Palliative care is based on the needs of the patient, not on the patient’s prognosis. It is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and it can be provided along with curative treatment.
Palliative Care Improves Quality of Life and Lowers Symptom Burden
Palliative care specialists improve quality of life for the patients whose needs are most complex. Working in partnership with the primary care providers, the Palliative care team provides:
- Time to devote to intensive family meetings and patient/family counseling
- Skilled communication about what to expect in the future in order to ensure that care is matched to the goals and priorities of the patient and the family
- Expert management of complex physical and emotional symptoms, including complex pain, depression, anxiety, fatigue, shortness of breath, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping
- Coordination and communication of care plans among all providers and across all settings
