The Steward Center for Palliative Care utilizes a nationally recognized model which sets the “gold standard” for excellence in the provision of palliative services in our community.
Our model of care ensures maximum benefit for patients who have been diagnosed with a serious, progressive illness by using best practice standards for care, adhering to national quality standards and implementing strategies to follow patients throughout the continuum of their care.
This evidence based, multi-disciplinary approach integrates your current team of specialists and primary care physicians to treat and manage symptoms within the four corners of wellness: physical, social, psychological, and spiritual. A wealth of evidence demonstrates that palliative care improves quality of life and helps those living with a serious illness to live longer, especially when it is a fixture throughout the continuum of a patient’s care.
Health care professionals, hospitals, and communities have become more familiar with palliative care and its benefits in the last few years, especially as demand for these services skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Consequently, many hospice organizations have recognized the opportunity to reach patients earlier in the trajectory of their illness and have made efforts to start their own palliative care programs to meet the community’s needs. As new palliative care service providers emerge, it has become important for health care providers and patients to understand the difference between primary palliative care and the specialized palliative care that is only provided in the community setting by the Steward Center.
Primary palliative care incorporates basic communications regarding prognosis, goals, and expectations of treatment, advance care planning, and might include a limited assessment of pain and symptom management needs. You may receive primary palliative care from your primary care physician, a specialist physician (e.g. cardiologist, pulmonologist), or from one of the palliative care programs offering services in our local area.
Specialized palliative care includes all the elements of primary palliative care in addition to pharmacological management of complex or intractable symptoms, resolution of psychological and spiritual stress related to the disease process, and navigation and support for complex decision making. Specialized palliative care can be provided in the home, clinic, or hospital setting by by a Board-Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Physician or Nurse Practitioner, and social workers and chaplains who are also trained and certified to provide palliative care. Currently, the Steward Center is the only specialized palliative care program providing service in all three settings and is the only provider for patients requiring specialty palliative care in the home or outpatient clinic setting.
Informed decision making is an essential part of ensuring quality of life. Thus, it is important to consider your unique needs when choosing a palliative care provider. You can call the Steward Center for Palliative Care at (912) 354-8014 to learn more about how we can help.