One of the toughest, most challenging experiences anyone can go through in their life is living with a terminal illness such as dementia, cancer, and the like. Not only is the illness directly affecting the person’s life physically, but it can also be detrimental to their psychological and even spiritual health as they slowly near the end of their life. In such situations, medication can do little to ease the pain. However, this doesn’t mean that there is no hope for a better life with such patients. Palliative care exists, and such care focuses on helping the individual live a comfortable life.
That being said, what exactly is palliative care? Is it the same thing as hospice care? Let’s find out together:
How Palliative Care Is Different from Hospice Care
More often than not, many people interchangeably use these terms when talking about hospice care. However, they’re not the same thing. While both treatments are focused on helping the patient live a more comfortable life, hospice care is only done after the treatment has ended. On the other hand, palliative care starts even during medication and will continue to help the patient fully recover.
The Process of Palliative Care
The process of palliative care all starts with the palliative care team. That team will generally start with the patient’s regular doctor as they recommend opting for palliative care and can even refer the patient to a specialist.
Specialists can include many individuals, such as nurses, social workers, doctors, massage therapists, and religious advisors. Generally, their combined goal here is to try and minimize the pain you’re going through, both mentally, physically, and spiritually. The medical experts will formulate a strategy to treat the disease to achieve full recovery, while spiritual advisors will help patients with any religious matters. Even psychologists can be called upon to help with the patient’s mental health as they face fear, anxiety, and other negative emotions. Sometimes financial experts may also be there to help with the patient’s family, who may be under financial burden trying to pay for the medical treatment.
In other words, palliative care is all about offering that full-coverage services to meet every need, from spiritual to even sometimes financial. Such care starts right away during treatment progress, helping to maximize the recovery process to try and ensure the patient gets better every step of the way.
Conclusion
Facing such severe illnesses in your life is a challenge that may seem impossible to overcome by yourself. Fortunately, you do not have to do this all by yourself. Palliative care brings you the total care needed to recover in various aspects of life, and it can be your one-way ticket to full recovery. That being said, whether you are facing the illness or one of your family members are, remember that palliative care doesn’t only help the patient. It also helps to ease the burden on the loved ones, helping to protect and heal their physical, mental, and spiritual health in the process.
Bridge Home Health & Hospice offers home-based hospice care carried out by expert clinicians and therapists. If you are looking for home care services in California, contact us today.
