How palliative care can support your loved one
We believe everyone struggling with a terminal illness or disease deserves to feel physically, spiritually, and emotionally supported. That’s why we offer palliative care. This is specialized care intended to help those with serious or life-limiting health conditions live as comfortably as possible in the time they have left. It focuses on managing pain, alleviating discomfort, and providing emotional support.
In this blog post, we explore how palliative care in Chadwell Health, Romford can support your loved one and ease the stress for everyone involved during this difficult time.
A closer look at palliative care
Palliative care takes a holistic approach to care by focusing on managing physical symptoms and emotional distress. It aims to improve the quality of life and relieve the suffering of those living with life-threatening illnesses, as well as provide peace of mind to family and friends. Some examples of terminal illnesses include cancer, AIDS, and dementia. Palliative care can begin at the moment of diagnosis or at any stage in your life-limiting disease. For this reason, it can last for days, months, or even years. Receiving palliative care does not mean that a person will necessarily pass away soon. Rather, it strives to give a person with a serious illness the best quality of life possible, despite the circumstances.
Palliative care vs hospice care
The key difference between palliative care and hospice care is that hospice care is provided during the later stages of a life-threatening illness. It’s similar to end-of-life care as it usually occurs during a person’s last few months.
The principles of palliative care
In addition to providing emotional and spiritual support, palliative care places a focus on relieving physical symptoms and pain through medication and therapy. For example, since mouth problems are a common concern in palliative care, we include mouth care as part of a person’s daily routine. This includes keeping the mouth clean and moist and encouraging taking frequent and small drinks. This improves a person’s ability to communicate and socialize, as well as reduces pain. Personal care, such as help with washing, dressing, and eating, are also a big part of palliative care.
Our palliative care services
Our ‘home away from home’ offers a calming, relaxing, and comfortable environment for you or your loved one to receive the physical, spiritual and psychological support you deserve. We are committed to making your time as comfortable as possible, whether that be in the early stages of an illness or as you are approaching the end of life.
Because we believe in providing the best quality of care, our registered manager leads all carers in ‘death, dying and bereavement’ training. While our palliative care team is highly trained and equipped to relieve physical pain, meet emotional needs, and manage all aspects of a patient’s illness, we also work closely with healthcare professionals. Care is tailored to meet your loved one’s wishes and needs. We also provide emotional support to family members to help them through this difficult time.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about the palliative care we provide or require more information, we would be more than happy to chat. Please do not hesitate to get in touch or call us on 0800 999 8499. Our professional staff look forward to helping you in whatever way we can.