Exploring the Benefits of Comfort-Focused Palliative Care
If your loved one has a severe illness, you want to make them as comfortable as possible. For many families, this comes in the form of palliative care. Palliative care can be provided along with curative treatments to help your loved one have the best quality of life possible. We will explore the benefits of comfort-focused palliative care at Santé so that you can see how it can help your loved one.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care helps relieve the pain and symptoms of those battling a severe illness. A palliative care team works with doctors and healthcare providers to design customized treatment plans to help manage uncomfortable symptoms.
Palliative care can be provided alongside curative treatment to relieve stress, prevent and manage pain, and help patients to be independent while maintaining the best quality of life possible. Through palliative care, patients learn how to still participate in activities they enjoy for a fulfilling life.
What Conditions Can Palliative Care Help?
Palliative care can help patients suffering from several illnesses, including:
- Cardiac disease
- Cancer
- Dementia
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Kidney Disease
- Stroke
- Lung Disease
Your loved one’s healthcare provider may recommend palliative care if they see they are suffering from specific symptoms. Palliative care is an essential type of care to keep patients as comfortable as possible.
What Can Palliative Care Offer?
Palliative care can offer many different types of care, such as [1]:
- Relaxation exercises
- Nutritional guidance
- Sleeping tips
- Cognitive exercises
- Breathing exercises
Palliative care can also refer reputable community resources to patients needing other services.
Benefits of Comfort-Focused Palliative Care
Palliative care is beneficial because it can relieve pain and help treat symptoms like depression and anxiety. However, many families turn to palliative care for the many other benefits it offers as well.
Better Care Coordination
When a palliative team is helping to care for your loved one, they will work closely with primary care providers to ensure that a patient’s medical needs are met. They will help coordinate care to ensure there are no medical mistakes with medication or other types of treatment.
Improved Quality of Life
When a patient is dealing with pain or discomfort, it impacts their quality of life. They may be unable to do the activities they typically enjoy, leading to depression. Patients learn to continue to do as many activities as possible with palliative care. Palliative care improves the quality of life by making these activities possible and keeping patients active. When patients are active and spend time with others, they are less likely to feel alone and depressed.
Familiar Setting
Patients will feel comfortable in their surroundings if palliative care is given at home or an assisted living facility. This helps with their care. They may be more relaxed, which helps with different forms of treatment. When patients are uncomfortable in their surroundings, they may refuse certain aspects of treatment, making it difficult for care providers.
Reduced Healthcare Costs
Palliative care is known to reduce hospital visits, thus reducing medical costs. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits can become expensive, even with insurance. By receiving palliative care, patients can have their needs met without having to look elsewhere.
Peace of Mind for Families
When families opt for palliative care for their loved ones, they give themselves peace of mind. They can feel confident that a team of experienced medical professionals is tending to their care. This lifts the burden off family members and caregivers.
Caring for an ill loved one is stressful. It can also be dangerous for the patient if the caregiver lacks the experience to handle certain conditions. With palliative care, patients receive the proper medical attention.
Patients Can Receive Palliative Care Anywhere
Palliative care can be given in a hospital, skilled nursing facility, or in a patient’s home. It can also be provided at any time during treatment. This is why it is often a preferred treatment for people suffering from serious illness.
Comfort-focused Palliative Care at Sante
Santé offers the best palliative care for patients throughout Maricopa County and in northeastern parts of Pinal County. Our team is ready to visit and care for patients wherever they call home. We can help with pain management and symptom relief and coordinate treatment with other healthcare providers.
At Santé, we believe in helping the entire family through the process, which is why we also provide support and education to family members and caregivers. The goal is to give each patient the best quality of life possible while preserving their dignity.
For more information on comfort-focused palliative care at Santé, call us today or contact us online.
Sources:
[1] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22850-palliative-car
Dan is Vice President, Marketing of the Alumus family of companies. A Seattle native, he earned his BA in Humanities and Political Science at Evergreen State College. He started his career as a newspaper columnist, eventually transitioning into marketing and tech writing for Microsoft and several other startups. He later launched a successful creative agency focused on branding, digital marketing, and content production in Los Angeles, where he worked for several nursing and behavioral health clients, eventually becoming the National Marketing Director for one of them.
He has taught Vipassana mindfulness meditation and MBSR and spends whatever free time he has with his son snowboarding, hiking, and camping in the mountains.
