The purpose of South Jersey palliative care is to help you live your best life every day by relieving your pain and symptoms from serious illness and managing the side effects of your treatments. Palliative care offers physicians and nurse practitioners who are board certified in palliative care and who work with your current physicians and specialists. Together, the team, along with social workers and a nurse care coordinator, focuses on you and your health care goals and wishes.
Palliative care includes consultations to provide symptom relief, counseling, spiritual comfort, or whatever you feel will enhance your quality of life during serious illness.
Palliative care helps you at any age and at any stage of a serious illness, even from the day of diagnosis. Some of the serious illnesses that benefit from palliative care include:
Palliative care is right for you if you are experiencing side effects from any of these serious illness or their treatments including chemotherapy or radiation; dialysis, and/or physical therapy.
Now is the time to call for a palliative care consultation in South Jersey, especially if you are experiencing symptoms related to your illness such as:
A Consultation. Once you choose palliative care, it begins with a consultation in the hospital, outpatient setting, in your home, or via telehealth. A physician or nurse practitioner will review your medical condition, discuss your goals of care, and explain how palliative care can help ease your symptoms from serious illness and its treatments.
Expert Medical Care Team. The expert medical team includes physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, and nurse care coordinators who work closely with your current physician(s).
Insurance Coverage Options. Palliative care is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and some commercial insurers with applicable co-payments and deductibles; sliding scale for the uninsured.
Ongoing Support & Care. When you choose palliative care, follow-up visits are scheduled at the hospital, your home, outpatient setting, or via telehealth to monitor your care.
Relieving Your Pain, Stress, & AnxietyPalliative care in South Jersey relieves your symptoms—such as pain, anxiety, nausea, or loss of appetite—as you undergo sometimes difficult medical treatments or procedures, such as surgery or chemotherapy.
Palliative care experts work with – not replaces — your current treatment plan. Palliative care is an extra layer of support. Palliative care helps manage your symptoms and discomforts while you and your primary doctors work toward a cure.
Palliative care physicians and nurse practitioners will take the time to explain your illness. They’ll answer your questions about your treatment options and how those treatments choices will affect your quality of life. They will also listen to what matters most to you at each stage of illness, and work to match your care plan with the goals and desired outcomes you’ve shared.
Your palliative care team can help you complete advance directives such as the Physician’s Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST), a prescription for the care you would want or not want should you be unable to speak for yourself. By completing the POLST form, you are offering a road map for family members to assist them in carrying out your wishes.
Even when a family member has a POLST form or other advance directive, there may be situations not specifically addressed or a family member may feel conflicted in making a decision. Your palliative care team is there to assist with such decisions.