In-Home Palliative Care Services
Are your seniors facing life-threatening illnesses? Do you want to enhance the quality of life of your elderly? Does your older adult require proper care and assistance? The US population is aging rapidly. Today, more than 40 million people in the United States are ages 65 and older, but this aging number is projected to more than double to 89 million by 2050.
As people get older, they start suffering from multiple chronic health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, cancer, depression, and many more. This is where palliative care is required to fulfill the complex needs of any seniors. It’s an effective way to enhance the quality of life of seniors
Providing such elderly care won’t only relieve them from disease but also deliver proper treatment care of problems, including physical, psychosocial, or spiritual. The overall purpose of palliative care services is to support the elderly and take care of their practical needs. So, they can live as actively as possible until death. These services are usually provided by a licensed caregiver agency for seniors that have professional caregivers to pay special attention to the specific needs and preferences of individuals.
We, at Justin Villa Care LLC, have well-qualified and skilled professionals who act as a helping hand to aging adults. We offer hourly, weekly, monthly, and long-term in-home elderly care services. So, your elderly relatives will live comfortably in their own homes with the assistance of a palliative caregiver.
Let’s know more about palliative care in detail!
Our following guide covers what palliative care is, the importance of such services, what is included in palliative care, and when is the appropriate time for receiving such services. Let’s take a look!
Understanding Palliative/Supportive Care for Seniors at Home
If your senior is diagnosed with a serious, long-lasting, and life-threatening illness, palliative care is the best option to make your life comfortable. Such in-home elderly care services are delivered by professional nurses, caregivers, and other specialists under the guidance of doctors. Adopting palliative care relieves pain and accomplishes your emotional, spiritual, and practical needs. In simple words, this new medical term aims to enhance the quality of life.
Hiring palliative care providers will recognize the symptoms and carry out treatment for relief. These specialists also do counseling and provide spiritual comfort to enhance living life. If you have had multiple hospitalizations or emergency room visits in the past year due to a serious disease, palliative care may also be a good option.
Is palliative care synonymous with death? Certainly not. There is no doubt to say that thousands of people with serious or terminal illnesses receive palliative care. However, some people don’t require palliative care after being cured while others undergo proper care treatment on an as-needed basis.
On the other hand, if you’ve lasted a few months of life and stopped pursuing care, you can contact healthcare professionals for hospice care services.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care assists patients suffering from serious type of diseases. So, they feel relaxed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It aims to improve the quality of life at any stage of an illness and can be combined with curative treatment. Such senior care starts with a conversation about your needs and goals. Here are the following needs that palliative care includes:
- Pain management.
- Managing other symptoms, such as shortness of breath, loss of appetite, constipation, insomnia, and many others.
- Stress management and anxiety reduction.
- Care coaching for family members.
- Spiritual support.
- Coordination of care with your doctors.
A study has shown timely palliative care results in higher quality of life scores for patients and better alignment of services with their priorities. Such type of care can be provided in a hospital, nursing facility, or home.
What is Involved in Palliative Care?
As we discussed above, palliative care is all about treating, caring for, and supporting patients suffering from life-limiting diseases. This is also known as supportive care. The objective of palliative care is to live a quality of life and stay active as much as possible in the remaining life. Here are the following activities involved in palliative care:
- Managing physical symptoms such as pain.
- Personal care, assisting with things like dressing, grooming, meal preparation, eating, and others.
- Complete support for your family and friends.
- Offer home support and assistance with shopping and respite care services.
- Nutritional guidance.
- Provide emotional, psychological, and spiritual support, educate about condition, and support as caregivers.
- Physical, occupational, integrative therapy.
- Explain complex medical forms or help families understand treatment choices.
- Provide or refer families to financial counseling.
- Help connect you to resources for transportation or housing.
Palliative care providers often work with doctors and other healthcare professionals to offer reliable care. Generally, a doctor or nurse(s) specializing in palliative care, as well as other healthcare professionals such as your primary doctor, pharmacists, social workers, and counselors are involved in palliative care.
Who Needs Palliative Care?
Sometimes, it’s hard to fix medical conditions – especially if patients have a life-limiting condition. This means the disease can’t be cured as their lives are destined to end. This is where the importance of palliative care comes into the picture. A professional caregiver assists individuals with palliative care services, aiming to cure them and ensure they live a quality of life. Such services focus on:
- Controlling symptoms.
- Independence.
- Emotional, spiritual, and cultural wellbeing.
- Caring for their family.
Despite this, a person can receive palliative care services for several years, months, weeks, or days, depending on the specific circumstances and diseases.
Can You Get Palliative Care at Home?
Yes, a person can receive palliative care at home, in a residential aged care facility, hospital, assisted living facility, outpatient clinic, and nursing home. Such types of services are available for everyone regardless of age and location.
Before making a decision about adopting caregiving services, it’s recommended to take consultation with healthcare providers and doctors. So, you can receive proper elderly care facilities in your area.
You can visit Justin Villa Care LLC to know more about other in-home senior care services.
When Is Palliative Care Appropriate?
Source – mesotheliomahelp.org
The right time to consider palliative care is when you have a serious or life-limiting illness. Also, we recommend not waiting until your illness reaches its final stage or terminal stage before getting palliative care. Several studies suggest that palliative care works best when it is initiated soon after diagnosis.
A 2018 study found that people with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) recommended the early use of palliative care improves both overall survival and quality of life. According to a 2018 meta-analysis, people with advanced cancer who receive outpatient palliative care have an improved quality of life and live longer.
Palliative care is most beneficial for those who have advanced cancer and depression symptoms, according to a study from 2017. This has been shown that palliative care is an effective option to reduce depression and other mental health conditions. Despite this, people suffering from complex or severe symptoms that are associated with progressive, advanced, life-threatening conditions can get palliative care services.
What Services Does Palliative Care Provide?
Palliative care was initially intended for people with terminal illnesses. In recent decades, it has evolved into a specialized medical field focused on a much broader range of serious conditions. WHO states that “Everyone has a right to high-quality care and a dignified death, free of overwhelming pain and in accordance with their religious beliefs.”
Certain medical conditions need palliative care for patient. Some of these severe medical illnesses can be treated with palliative care, including cancer, heart disease, chronic lung disease, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Symptom management is one of the primary goals. In addition, palliative care provides relief for various symptoms so you can carry on with your daily life and undergo or complete your medical treatment. Here are some palliative cares examples where you need assistance:
- Diarrhea, Bowel or bladder problems
- Pain
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Dementia
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Constipation, nausea, and vomiting
- Shortness of breath or labored breathing
- Weakness
- Loss of appetite, weight loss, or wasting
- Difficulty sleeping
- Depression, Delirium, or mental confusion
- Coughing
If you want to know more in detail about palliative care, talk to our representative today. We’ll be pleased to assist you with every possible query.
Where Can I Find Palliative Care?
Before approaching a professional palliative caregiver, we recommend asking your primary doctor first. They know various well-skilled healthcare providers. Generally, patients can find palliative care services in the hospital, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, outpatient clinics, and hospices.
Despite this, in-home healthcare agencies, like Justin Villa Care LLC, also take care of patients who require regular personal care assistance, suffer from serious illnesses, or need physical and emotional support. We have a team of professionals assisting seniors or older adults with different day-to-day activities. Our caregivers work closely with individuals and customize a personalized service plan to meet their needs.
Get Palliative Care Support Services at Home
If you or your loved one is diagnosed with any life-altering, long-term illness, it’s time to access palliative care services. Our home health care services are meant to benefit you and your seniors to live a restful life. We serve in Los Angeles County, Orange County & other areas of California
At Justin Villa Care, we first communicate with families and your loved ones, who require care, to understand their requirements. On the basis of this, we create a personalized plan, so your loved ones receive a quality of life. So, don’t hesitate to talk to our representative and get the best-suited palliative care at home for your elderly. We’re available 24-hours with full support and assistance. Reach us today!
