Caregivers to older adults hear a lot of terms thrown around by the senior’s medical team. Some of them sound quite foreign, making it hard to know what’s going on sometimes. One term you may have heard doctors use is “palliative care.” Care, well, that’s easy enough and certainly a good thing. After all, that’s what caregivers specialize in. But, what does palliative mean and what is palliative care? That’s a little more complicated.
Palliative Care Defined
Older adults who are receiving palliative care have serious medical conditions. Palliative care is provided by medical providers who are specially trained in ways to support patients who are very ill. The care they offer focuses on keeping the senior more comfortable.
Palliative care is tailored to the needs of the specific patient, so just what it entails differs. Some of the aims of palliative care are:
- Improving the patient’s quality of life.
- Relieving specific symptoms, such as by offering pain relief or treatments that make it easier to breathe.
- Decreasing stress that occurs due to the illness.
- Assisting with finding treatment options that correspond with the goals of the older adult.
- Coordinating care with other medical providers.
Palliative care can be received along side treatment that aims at curing the disease the senior has, such as chemotherapy for curing cancer. It may be started at any stage of the illness and sometimes starts from the time the disease is diagnosed.
Ways Family Caregivers Can Help with Palliative Care
As a family caregiver, you may be uncertain how you can assist your older family member who is receiving palliative care. When an older adult is receiving palliative care, it is likely they are ill enough that doing many things on their own is difficult or even impossible. Some ways that a family caregiver can assist a senior receiving palliative care are:
- Running errands, such as shopping for groceries, picking up prescriptions, and going to the post office.
- Offering emotional support and companionship.
- Cooking meals. Some caregivers may come every day to make lunch and dinner. Others might pick a day and cook enough meals to last the week or longer, packaging them to be frozen and warmed up.
- Keeping the house clean, doing tasks like vacuuming, sweeping, and dusting.
- Driving the senior to medical appointments, their place of worship, or to visit with friends.
If you’re uncertain of ways you can help an older adult with a serious illness, asking them how you can help may be the best way to find out. You might also ask their health care team what kind of help they need.
Sources
https://getpalliativecare.org/whatis/
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-are-palliative-care-and-hospice-care
https://www.webmd.com/palliative-care/what-is-palliative-care#1
If you or a loved-one are considering palliative care in Roswell, GA, please call the caring staff at Arcturus Hospice and Palliative Care today. Call 678-383-9973 today to speak to our care team.
Kate Gorinshteyn is the director of marketing at Arcturus Health Care. Arcturus is a fast-growing Hospice striving to provide the highest level of quality care to patients faced with life-limiting illnesses. Our goal is to make each patient as pain-free as possible and give physiological, emotional and spiritual support to both the patient and family. We understand that the decision change from curative to comfort care is difficult, and our team is trained to help you every step of the way!
We are proud to make a difference in the lives of those we serve.