PALLIATIVE CARE
Old Colony Hospice Builds Palliative Care Partnership with Brockton HospitalGoal: Provide expert pain and symptom management and advanced care planning for patients with advanced disease to ensure the best possible quality of life.
Old Colony Hospice, in partnership with Brockton Hospital, is pleased to announce the continued success of the Palliative Care Consultation Service. The program provides the expertise of a Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner from Old Colony Hospice to assist patients at Brockton Hospital in maximizing the quality of their lives. The program provides pain control, symptom management and support for patients while they are undergoing aggressive or curative treatments. The program also provides opportunities for patients and their families to discuss advanced care planning and receive support in coping with complex medical issues. The Palliative Care Program served more than 180 patients and their families in 2006 and close to 400 since the program's inception in 2004. This is a consultative service for patients at Brockton Hospital and is billed through the patient's insurance.
What is Palliative Care? Palliative care is comfort care – and to palliate means to make comfortable by managing symptoms. Palliative Care focuses on the management of physical, emotional, spiritual symptoms as well as planning for the progression of disease.
Patients at Brockton Hospital may receive a Palliative Care Consult when their attending physician requests the consult. The Nurse Practitioner will assess the patient and discuss treatment recommendations with the physician. Jennifer Bobolia, FNP-C, ACHPN, joined Old Colony Hospice in March 2006. She is a Board Certified Nurse Practitioner in Family Medicine and Palliative Care and is available to provide consultative services for patients with serious illness or life-limiting disease. She coordinates care with the physician, social worker, case manager, and spiritual counselor to provide additional support to patients and families.
"I know that we can improve the quality of life for patients with complex medical diseases," said Marjorie Levy, CEO, Old Colony Hospice. "We are pleased to be an integral part of the first hospital-hospice partnership in southeastern Massachusetts."
Who would benefit from a Palliative Care Consultation?
If you or your loved one at Brockton Hospital has advanced disease and can answer "yes" to any of these questions, ask your physician if you would benefit from a consultation visit.
- Are you experiencing pain and/or symptoms such as nausea/vomiting, anxiety, agitation, (nervousness), depression, weight loss, dyspnea on a regular basis?
- Are you struggling to find the right answers for difficult treatment decisions such as starting a feeding tube, starting or continuing dialysis, identifying a health care proxy, creating a living will, or deciding about resuscitation?
- Have you been in the hospital more than twice in the last six months for the same problem?
- Are you experiencing pain or other symptoms related to chemotherapy or radiation therapy which are impacting your quality of life?
For more information please call Old Colony Hospice at 781-341-4145.
