Palliative Care is often misunderstood by medical professionals as well as the general public.

 

Palliative Care is “whole person” care focused on preserving and enhancing quality of life. It is appropriate for those of any age and at any stage in a serious illness and can be provided along with curative treatment in non-hospice settings.

 

The goal is to improve the quality of life for both people with life-limiting illness and their families by giving patients relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness or diagnosis.

 

For persons living with serious, complex, and life-threatening illness, Palliative Care can be offered simultaneously with life-prolonging and curative therapies.

 

Palliative Care provides that extra layer of support so that individuals and their family can focus on living as fully as possible for as long as possible.

 

The Palliative Care approach recognizes that life-threatening illness, whether it can be cured or controlled, carries with it significant burdens of suffering for patients and their families and that this suffering can be effectively addressed by modern palliative care teams.

 

Palliative care focuses on relieving suffering and achieving the best possible quality of life for patients and their family caregivers. It involves exploring "what makes life worth living" in support of

• the assessment and treatment of symptoms

• support for decision making

• assistance in matching treatments to informed patient and family goals

• practical aid for patients and their family caregivers
   

Palliative Care Chaplaincy is a specialty that provides

"intensive caring" rather than intensive care.