Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 11/5/2021 11:17:03 AM
Home Healthcare, Hospice & Community Services is helping bring care for seriously ill patients into their home, with a new program focused on providing palliative care to patients outside of the hospital setting.
Home Healthcare, Hospice & Community Services, or HCS, has locations in Peterborough, Keene and Charlestown, and provides home-care services in private homes as well as nursing and care facilities. Among its clinical services is in-home care for hospice and palliative care patients.
Hospice care is a specialized field for patients with an estimated six months or less to live, and for those who have elected to stop treatment for terminal illnesses. While palliative care can help with many of the same issues as hospice care – pain or symptom management, medication adjustments and providing social supports – it can be done while the patient is still under treatment.
Evelyn Erb, the supervisor of medical palliative and hospice social work for HCS, said that distinction is lost on many people who are first referred to them for services. Many people associate palliative care with end-of-life care, she said.
“One of the things I often hear is ‘No, I’m not ready for that,’” Erb said. “The difference between palliative and hospice is often very muddy for people. But when we offer palliative care, what we’re really saying is ‘Can we offer you extra comfort?’”
Currently, HCS serves 60 families with hospice care, and 450 in their clinical and palliative care programs, throughout Cheshire County.
Lana Moore, a nurse practitioner who specializes in palliative and hospice patients, said she can check on patients, manage their symptoms and adjust their medications, without them having to go to the hospital.
“It’s trying to help them where they are,” Moore said. “Many want to stay at home, and avoid a hospital room. They may not be able to easily get out. They may want to avoid the possibility of exposure to illnesses, and it’s just a way you can meet them privately, where they are most comfortable, and develop a deep connection.”
Palliative care isn’t a new service for HCS, but this way of delivering it is, Moore said.
Moore joined the organization in June to start the new home-based palliative program. Prior to that, she said, HCS provided palliative care consults in hospitals, and provided resources to families at home through a social work program, but being able to provide medical care at home is a new component and a natural extension of the organization’s hospice program.
Not every palliative care patient moves on to become a hospice patient, but many do. This new program allows for those who start under palliative care to keep the same team that they’ve been working with, as their illness progresses. And that is a comfort to many people already dealing with a high-stress situation, Moore said.
“For many people with chronic or long-term illnesses, it becomes part of their life. They want to be home, doing what they can of their normal routine,” Moore said.
Vanessa Sheehan, palliative and hospice care manager at HCS, said the staff is cross-training to be able to provide that continuum of care for palliative and hospice patients.
“We had a recent patient who entered hospice care, who was able to keep their clinical nurse. The family was very grateful for that. They’ve really established a rapport with them, and they may have already been involved in the case for several months – or longer. This particular patient had been with them for more than a year. And they were able to carry over and continue their treatment with familiar faces, and that just makes them more comfortable.”
That comfort level is important as families work with a social worker as well as a medical professional to manage their symptoms, and if they enter hospice care, to help ensure their wishes are followed.
“We want to get to families before it feels like a crisis,” Sheehan said. “The family can receive education and support, and the patient can receive information and help their family understand their specific wishes. We tailor it to each patient, and anything we can help facilitate prior to them becoming bed-bound or too ill, we want to help make happen.”
Most patients under the care of HCS are referred by their primary care provider. To learn about the services HCS provides, or to inquire a family member qualifies for services, contact HCS at 603-352-2253.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.
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