Palliative Care
Palliative medicine offers an added layer of support, no matter where you are in your journey with a serious or chronic illness. In addition to relieving pain, improving comfort, and supporting your loved ones, our palliative team can also help coordinate communication between your other doctors and care providers. It can be confusing to manage lots of medications and appointments, so it’s helpful to have an expert available to keep everyone on the same page.
Helping patients and providers manage serious advanced illnesses was why the Center for Palliative Care began in 2017. Unlike some other specialties, palliative medicine is delivered by a full team, not just doctors and nurses. Depending on your specific needs, our team can include experts in different areas like a chaplain for emotional and spiritual support, and a community health worker to help connect you to non-medical services like transportation, meal delivery or housing.
Palliative care isn’t an end-of-life care program, as many people think. You may benefit from palliative care at any stage of your illness, regardless of age. In fact, the sooner in your disease progress, the better!
A poor prognosis isn’t a requirement to receive palliative care, either. Our palliative care team can help if you’ve experienced a health crisis, like a stroke or heart attack. You and your loved ones can count on our help and guidance as you face complex healthcare decisions.
Center for Palliative Care, which is located on the eastern end of our Mishawaka campus at 211 N. Cedar St, has two programs to meet the needs of people with serious advanced illness. Our consultative palliative care program is structured to assess and manage your symptoms as your needs evolve. Our nurse practitioners provide a comprehensive assessment at our office and make recommendations to enhance your comfort. They continue to work with your provider to update prescriptions and adjust your care.
For those who need more intensive support, Kaleidoscope is a home-based palliative care service that offers people with serious advanced illness the right care, at the right time, in the right place. It’s a wrap-around program that enhances the care provided by your primary care provider and specialists. Like our consultative programs, Kaleidoscope offers expert evaluation of your needs – it adds another layer of care with in-home visits to monitor your condition.