Quality Comfort Care
St. Mary Medical Center’s Palliative Care Program provides an organized, highly structured system for delivering care. Palliative care offers patients and their families options to relieve the pain, symptoms, and stress of serious illness.
Unlike hospice care, which is designed to meet the needs of those approaching the last stage of life, palliative care is appropriate at any stage of a serious illness and often is provided along with curative treatments. The present growth in the country’s aging and chronically ill population has increased the demand for such services nationwide.
Together St. Mary’s multidisciplinary team, comprised of physicians, nurses, Spiritual Care Services, psychological professionals and other healthcare professionals, as necessary, focuses on patient goals of care and shifts their focus on comfort rather than cure. Focus is on pain and symptom management and the prevention of invasive and costly procedures if the results of such procedures carry more risk than benefit to the patient.
For information about St. Mary’s Palliative Care Program please call (562) 491-9168.
