Talk to us about palliative care
Palliative care teams at Ascension sites of care deliver personalized care to help manage your pain, symptoms and stress due to illness.
When a life-altering illness affects your quality of life, Ascension care teams are here to help. Palliative care can provide an extra layer of support and comfort for you and your family. And our care teams deliver compassionate, personalized care for the whole person - from managing symptoms and side effects from other treatments to pain flare-ups, anxiety, depression, and more.
Your team may include palliative care specialists, such as doctors, advanced practice providers, nurses, social workers, and chaplains. Palliative care helps improve the quality of life for people living with serious illness by increasing comfort, confidence and control.
We work with you to create a plan that’s right for you. We focus on relieving your pain and symptoms as much as possible and coordinate other services, including:
- Addressing Advance Care Planning
- Coordinating emotional, physical and spiritual care
- Managing side effects from your treatment
- Supporting recovery after surgery
- Providing caregiver support and resources
Palliative care is not the same as Hospice care. While both increase comfort, Hospice care is focused completely on comfort care for terminal illness when medical treatments are no longer desired.
Palliative care for life-altering conditions
Palliative care is an option for people at any age and at any stage in an illness. We help you feel better by improving your symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, depression, shortness of breath and loss of appetite.
Our care team specializes in palliative care for many conditions, including:
- Cancer
- Brain, spine and nervous system disorders (such as ALS, dementia, Parkinson’s)
- Heart failure
- Kidney failure
- Lung disease
- Liver failure
Palliative care can help you make confident decisions
Ask your doctor about having a palliative care consultation. Our care team listens to understand your quality-of-life goals. At Ascension sites of care, palliative care is provided in the hospital, clinic setting, through telehealth, while recovering at home, and in a skilled nursing facility. Palliative care is not a stand-alone treatment plan. We coordinate care with your primary and specialty care doctors. Our care teams can also coordinate care with your home health care or hospice care team.
Your family and other caregivers are an important part of your care team. We provide supportive care and resources to help them cope with stress. You don’t have to face your illness alone. We’re here to help.
Get the care you need after being discharged from the hospital
Your doctor and discharge nurse at the hospital will connect you with post acute care services that support your follow-up care after surgery or intensive critical care (ICU). We work with you to help you from being readmitted to the hospital. In addition to palliative care, Ascension sites of care include wound healing clinics, remote patient monitoring, post acute COVID care clinics, outpatient respiratory and rehabilitation therapy, cardiac rehabilitation. Learn more about our Ascension at Home services: in-home infusion therapy, home health care and hospice. Ascension sites of care also include long-term acute care hospitals and Medicare-approved inpatient rehabilitation facilities. By working with you and your caregivers, we deliver compassionate personalized care, so you can get back to the activities you enjoy.