Improving Quality of Life with Palliative Care in MA & RI
Palliative care is health care that is focused on the needs of people with serious illnesses, which may be chronic and manageable or terminal. It aims to improve the quality of life and provide pain relief and other comfort measures for seriously and terminally ill people. Unlike hospice care, palliative care can be delivered at the same time as conventional lifesaving medical therapies.
Palliative care at Southcoast VNA is available at any time during an illness. Patients can receive services at the same time they are receiving treatments meant to cure their illness. Medicare and most private insurers will cover palliative care.
Reasons for Palliative Care
People seek palliative care for serious or terminal illnesses, such as cancer, heart failure and neurological conditions.
You may want to consider palliative care if you or a loved one is in the following situations:
- You have a serious, chronic or progressive illness that involves physical or emotional pain and suffering
- You are at any stage of your disease and need relief from symptoms, such as pain, nausea, loss of appetite, anxiety and fatigue
- You want more control over your treatment goals and your quality of your life
- Your illness continues to progress despite treatment
- You have had multiple hospitalizations for the same symptoms or condition in the last year
- You want to remain in your own home instead of being in the hospital
Benefits of Palliative Care in MA & RI at Southcoast VNA
We offer a range of customized palliative care services at Southcoast VNA, including:
- Alternative therapies
- Assistance with making medical decisions and choosing treatment options
- Coordination of your care team, including care from any other doctors you see
- Counseling, including emotional, psychosocial and spiritual support for you and your family
- Medications to control symptoms like pain, nausea and anxiety
- Physical and occupational therapy
To find out more about our palliative care services in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, reach out to our Customer Care Center at (800) 698-6877.
Southcoast VNA provides many options for palliative care for patients across the South Coast in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.