News
April 4, 2017The Community Hospice, Eddy Visiting Nurse Association and Palliative Care Partners to Integrate Services
The Community Hospice, Eddy Visiting Nurse Association (Eddy VNA), and Palliative Care Partners – three leading providers of community services in the greater Capital Region – have announced they will integrate services to help support patients with serious or complex illnesses, and launch a $1.5 million campaign to fund the expansion of palliative care services over the next three years.
Palliative care is a specialized medical care to relieve seriously ill patients of the symptoms, pain, and stress of living with a serious or chronic illness, such as cancer, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney failure, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS.
The integration will enable the three nonprofits to work more closely than ever to ensure more patient-centered care in the areas of home care, palliative care, and hospice care. For patients, the move would enable a smooth transition of services as their needs changed, and fill any gaps in care. At the same time, the organizations would be able to combine best practices and share resources in the best interest of patients and families.
“We’re proud to be the only health provider in the Capital Region area to bring together a full range of quality home-based services – from home health to palliative care to hospice – to meet a wide variety of needs in the community,” said Michelle Mazzacco, vice president and executive director of The Community Hospice, Eddy VNA, and Palliative Care Partners.
Expanding Palliative Care Services: $1.5 Million Funding Campaign Launched
The integration comes as the three agencies expand upon a palliative care service line newly named Palliative Care Partners, and embark on an innovative three-year plan to – at minimal – triple the number of lives touched by palliative care specialists in our community. The organizations are launching a $1.5 million public campaign appealing to philanthropic groups and donors to support the expansion and access to those vital services in our community.
“Palliative care is the single, largest opportunity to improve health care for people living with serious illness and their families,” said Mazzacco. “Our goal is to deliver palliative care earlier in the disease progression to provide that added layer of support that patients and their families need, ideally from the point of diagnosis of a serious illness through end of life.”
Patients can benefit from palliative care at any age and at any stage of an illness, and it is also provided along with curative treatment.
An interdisciplinary team works together with the patient’s community physician to not only treat the pain and other symptoms, but to help patients and their families understand the illness and make informed decisions about care. Led by a Palliative Care Certified Medical Director, the team includes a registered nurse, social worker, and spiritual staff who work with the patient’s primary care physician.
“Patients who live with serious illnesses, such as cancer, heart failure and emphysema, are faced with multiple distressing symptoms and psycho-social challenges that also impact their families,” said Dr. George Giokas, palliative care director for Palliative Care Partners. “Our teams have specialized training to work with the patients and their physicians to improve their quality of life and provide support so that patients can achieve their goals.”
Palliative patients can suffer from a wide range of symptoms, including pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and depression.
Palliative care services have not been readily available across the country due to inadequate health insurance coverage and a shortage of palliative care specialists. But there is an urgent and growing need for palliative care in our community.
“There is mounting evidence that the addition of palliative care services results in less symptom distress, improved patient survival, and decreased family stress. We want to ensure our patients have access to these vital services,” said Mazzacco.
The three-year plan includes expanding palliative care support to patients and families in multiple settings, including outpatient clinics, physician offices, cancer centers, and in their homes through Eddy VNA’s Palliative Care Partners at Home program.
Through support primarily from The Community Hospice Foundation, palliative care services have been offered at St. Peter’s Hospital for several years, and at Ellis Medicine, which partially funds its program in Schenectady. However, three times the need has been identified in our region currently.
The St. Peter’s team began seeing patients at Albany Memorial Hospital for palliative care consults, as needed; and Samaritan Hospital in Troy introduced a palliative care team late last year.
“This is a community-wide effort, working closely with a wide range of other hospitals, physicians, and community-based agencies to improve the quality of life for those with serious or complex illnesses, and their families in the region,” said Mazzacco. “So there is an immediate need for philanthropic support of palliative care to expand this service through the next few years.”
