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Palliative Care Program at St. Mary Medical Center: Compassionate care for individuals and families facing advanced illness
What is Palliative Care?
It is comprehensive, specialized care provided by an interdisciplinary team to patients and families living with life-threatening, chronic or severe advanced illness that is expected to progress. Major focuses are pain and symptom management, information sharing, advance care planning, psychosocial and spiritual support, and coordination of care. The palliative care team works along with the patient’s physicians and other members of the interdisciplinary team to ensure that the plan of care is goal-directed rather than disease-directed.
Who are the Palliative Care staff?
Stefanie Crawford, MSW, LSW, CT, ACHP-SW
Palliative Care Coordinator
215-710-5036
Jean Vitale, RN
Palliative Care Nurse
215-710-4616
How can the Palliative Care team help?
- The Palliative Care Nurse and Social Worker:
- Assist in decision-making along the continuum of advanced illness
- Ensure that patient’s treatments are goal-directed
- Alleviate pain and symptoms associated with advanced medical conditions
- Assist in completion of advance healthcare directives
- Explain the hospice philosophy for any patient, family or colleague with questions
- Arrange for palliative home care, home hospice, hospice in a nursing facility and inpatient hospice
- Help to resolve ethical dilemmas
- Provide education and support to hospital staff regarding symptom management, communication issues and goals of care conflicts
Helpful Links:
Advance Healthcare Directive
Ethics Consult Process
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