Palliative care is a specialized approach to healthcare that focuses on improving quality of life for individuals facing serious illness or conditions. Palliative care aims to relieve symptoms, manage pain, and provide comprehensive support throughout the illness journey.
Palliative Care
(360) 914-5634
Fax: (360) 678-7621
Service Overview
Comfort, Relief, Compassionate Care
- The focus is on providing relief from distressing symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping.
- They provide emotional support, counseling and assistance with coping strategies for patients and their families.
- Palliative care provides support and education to be able to better understand your medical condition, prognosis, and treatment options.
- They also assist in providing guidance on advance care planning, including living wills and healthcare proxies
- Palliative care recognizes the impact of serious illness on the patient’s family and loved ones, and provides emotional and practice support to help navigate the challenges they may face.
Palliative Care Consultative Service
Our team works closely with your primary provider, specialist, 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.
Carla Jolley MN, ARNP, ANP-BC, AOCN, ACHPN, of the Palliative Care Consult Service, provides the initial consult and ongoing care, which can be done with patients at WhidbeyHealth Medical Center and our Cancer Care clinic. Patients experiencing a decline in their ability to function can receive their consultation in their home or in assisted living.
An RN provides phone triage support with following up on symptoms, and helping connect you and your family with resources, and navigating the health care system. This is also provided through Patient Care Management (PCM), a formal program that can be part of your palliative care treatment plan.
Depending on your needs, palliative care can be involved for a short time or as part of your long-term care plan depending on your illness journey. Palliative care focuses on treating you as a whole person and supporting your physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.
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 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, but provides the best results when introduced early in your care and provided at the same time as curative treatments.
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 whose goals are comfort-focused only and with six months or less to live.
Who Pays For Palliative Care?
Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers typically cover palliative care services. It is similarly billed like other specialists such as cardiologists or oncologists.
Referrals To Palliative Care
Palliative care is a consult service and 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.
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Carla Jolley, ANP-BC, AOCH, ACHPN
Specialty Palliative Care Certifications - American Nursing Credentialing Centers
- Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation
- National Hospice and Palliative Care Certification Corporation
Areas of Expertise - Pain and symptom management
- Help navigating the health care system and community resources
- Guidance and support with difficult and complex treatment choices
- Advance Care Planning
- Emotional and spiritual support for patients and families
Patient Care Philosophy - Match goals and values to an individual’s care.
- Partner with patients, family members and providers to give an extra layer of support to those living with a serious illness.
- Focus on the patient rather than the disease; address how patients are dealing with both symptoms and treatments.
- Empower patients to achieve quality of life goals no matter where they are in the journey: recently diagnosed, in active treatment, completed therapy or nearing end of life.
- Recognize that living with a serious illness affects not only patients and family/support systems, but also influences what kind of emotional and spiritual support is needed.
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