Palliative care is a specialized form of care that provides symptom relief, comfort and support to people living with serious or chronic illnesses. It also provides support to caregivers and those impacted by a loved one’s condition. Our focus is on improving your quality of life. 

The Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care Team, on the campus of ECMC, offers consultation for patients living with serious illness. Our team provides an extra layer of support for patients and families across the continuum of care, including inpatient, outpatient, and post-acute care. 

Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care is available to patients of all ages and through all stages of serious illness: from diagnosis, through the ups and downs of disease-directed and potentially curative care, and sometimes through the end of life. Unlike hospice, which people often associate with end-of-life care-palliative care can benefit people early in the course of their disease, while still receiving curative care. 

Our team of experts helps people with serious illness live their best life possible by:

• Treating the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges of serious illness.
• Exploring and understanding each person’s unique priorities, hopes, worries, and preferences, to ensure that their treatment plan honors their values.
• Providing support to patients and their loved ones throughout the course of living with serious illness.

Palliative care helps you to make better care decisions that positively impact your life and can improve health-related outcomes. Research has shown that palliative care is associated with:

• Improved patient and caregiver satisfaction
• Improved quality of life
• Less anxiety and depression
• Longer life expectancy

If you’re interested in getting more information about what care options are available to you or a loved one or to learn what resources may be available, please ask your Provider to place a referral for you to speak with a member of the Palliative medicine & Supportive care team.

Our team offers consultation and support for patients with serious illness anywhere in the hospital, including medical and surgical care units, Jonah Cancer Center, the Intensive Care Units, and the Emergency Department. We also supervise the care of those patients with serious illness who reside in Terrace View long-term care nursing home. Here we manage complicated pain and other symptoms of serious illness, often, depending on patient and family needs, through the end of life.