Our Services

Palliative Care of the Carolina Foothills

Click here to download a brochure about Palliative Care

Palliative (pronounced pál-lee-uh-tiv) Care means comfort care, and is offered as a program of consultative services to help relieve the pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness. The goal is to maximize the quality of life for individuals and families coping with difficult, but not terminal, medical conditions.

Patients who could benefit from Palliative Care include those with some or all of the following situations:

• Life-limiting illness with accompanying physical, emotional and/or spiritual suffering;
• Significant changes in a long-term medical condition or life situation;
• An advanced illness that is not appropriate for Hospice care;
• A medical condition for which curative treatment is being received; and
• Making health care decisions or plans for themselves or their loved ones is difficult, particularly regarding goals of care and advance directives.

The Palliative Care Team
Palliative Care team members include a palliative care physician, a medical social worker, and a registered nurse, who are referred for consultation with a patient by the patient's primary care provider. The team's services focus on pain and other worrisome symptoms of illness, and the impact the illness has on all aspects of a person's life. They will call on other community resources as needed, and help guide the patient and his/her family as they make decisions.

Team members make house calls to people wherever they are: at home, in a nursing home, in an assisted living or retirement community, or in the hospital. Some fees are covered by Medicare and private insurance; there is no charge for other services.

Sponsored by Hospice of the Carolina Foothills
Palliative Care of the Carolina Foothills is one of the community-based services of Hospice. Referral to Palliative Care does not mean referral to Hospice. You can reach the Palliative Care Program Coordinator by calling 828.894.7016, or 800.617.7132, or emailing pcare@hocf.org.