PALLIATIVE CARE

Palliative care improves the lives of patients and families facing serious illness. It focuses on relief of pain, symptoms and stress - whatever the diagnosis.

Comfort, Relief, Compassionate Care

• Relief from distressing symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping
• Live comfortably and experience the best possible quality of life for you and your family
• Better understand your medical condition
• Improved ability to carry on with daily life and tolerate medical treatments

Palliative Care Consultative Service

Our team works closely with your primary provider or hospitalist to provide the best supportive care for patients and families facing serious illness. Here is what we do:

• Build a care plan that lessens the physical symptoms of disease, eases the stress of emotional and social worries and helps you decide what kind of care is right for you.
• Help you navigate the healthcare system and access community resources through coordination and referral.

Who Benefits From Palliative Care?

People living with any serious or debilitating illness e.g., cancer, congestive heart failure, lung disease, kidney failure, liver disorder, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.

Palliative care helps through all stages of illness.

Palliative care provides the best results when it is introduced early in your care, at the same time curative treatments are provided.

Palliative care is not hospice. Both use a team of experts to provide pain relief and comfort care, but palliative care can be appropriate at any stage of serious illness. Hospice care is a type of palliative care but is intended for patients with six months or less to live.

WhidbeyHealth Palliative Care

Carla Jolley MN, ARNP, AOCN, CHPN, Palliative Care (pictured right) provides the initial palliative care consult, which can be done with inpatients, with outpatients in our Cancer Care clinic or at a skilled nursing facility. Patients experiencing a decline in their ability to function can receive their consultation in their home or in assisted living. Our interdisciplinary team includes a master’s level social worker and an experienced chaplain; the goal of care is to support the whole person and their family system.

Depending on your needs, a team member can be involved for a short time or as part of your long-term care plan and needs.

We are committed to providing excellent palliative care whether a person has been recently diagnosed, is in active treatment, has completed therapy or is nearing end of life.

Who Pays For Palliative Care?

Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers typically cover palliative care services. It is similar to seeing other specialists such as cardiologists.

Referrals To Palliative Care

Palliative care requires a provider's order. However, anyone may request a referral, after which we will contact your physician or provider to discuss our program. We work in partnership with your provider to offer an extra layer of support for you and your family.

HOSPICE

WhidbeyHealth Hospice Care provides high quality, compassionate end-of-life care for people with terminal illness.

Commitment to Caring

• Highly skilled symptom management and support for the terminally ill
• Focus on caring, with services usually provided in the patient's own home
• Hospice patients live their final months to the fullest, surrounded by loved ones.

WhidbeyHealth Hospice Care is Medicare-certified, which means that someone on Medicare receives hospice services at no cost.

Hospice Services

WhidbeyHealth Hospice Care provides services that are customized to the needs of the patient, which include:

• Pain management
• Symptom management
• Providing necessary medications, medical supplies and equipment
• Assistance with emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects of end-of-life
• Guiding family members on how best to care for the patient
• Specialized services such as speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy and music therapy when needed
• Short-term inpatient care when appropriate
• Respite for caregivers as needed
• Grief services and support for surviving family members and loved ones

We are proud of our commitment to providing quality care and services to veterans and their families.

The professional staff and volunteers at WhidbeyHealth Hospice Care are committed to the physical, emotional, social and spiritual well being of their patients and the people who care for them.

We provide care wherever a patient lives, whether it is their personal residence, a skilled nursing facility, an assisted living facility or an adult family home. We serve all of Whidbey Island.

Hospice is a family-centered, holistic approach to patient care. The hospice team visits regularly to provide care, answer questions and make the patient as comfortable as possible. We focus exclusively on the patient's goals and wishes.

Our team supports patients and families with comprehensive expertise in the management of physical, emotional and spiritual needs. For most hospice patients, “comfort care” means spending the last months of their lives within familiar surroundings with family, friends, pets and relaxed routines.

"It is hard at this time to express the full gratitude that I have for your kind and expert care."

− Patient family member

Our Hospice Care team includes:

• The patient’s own physician
• Dr. Jerry Sanders (right), Hospice-Certified Medical Director
• A hospice nurse and a social worker, who work closely with each other and with the patient and family
• A hospice chaplain
• A hospice aid (certified nursing assistant)
• Trained hospice volunteer
• Hospice grief service

When Is Hospice Appropriate?

Hospice care is appropriate when the patient’s physician determines that curative efforts are no longer appropriate and when life expectancy is six months or less.

Patients have the option to return to curative therapy at any time. Any patient, family member, friend or physician can call WhidbeyHealth Hospice Care and get immediate information about how we can help.

Hospice care can begin immediately upon referral from the patient’s physician. A representative from WhidbeyHealth Hospice Care typically visits the patient within 24 hours to evaluate his or her eligibility and needs and to begin care.

Hospice care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance.