At Yuma Regional Medical Center we offer palliative and supportive care to improve the quality of life for patients who live with a variety of conditions. Our patients often have advanced illness such as cancer, Alzheimer's and other dementias, frailty, chronic obstructive lung disease and advanced heart failure. The overall goal of palliative care is to help ensure each patient's maximum comfort and emotional wellbeing. Providing this level of care requires a multidisciplinary approach with the entire treatment team to develop a patient and family-centered plan for care based on the patient and family goals and preferences. We provide palliative and supportive care services in the hospital, at the Yuma Regional Medical Center Cancer Center, in our outpatient clinic and in patients' homes.
An important aspect of the palliative care offered at Yuma Regional Medical Center is the effective management of symptoms, including pain, the patient may be experiencing. Since pain is unique to each individual, some patients may require a personalized pain and symptom management plan. This plan may include medications and other supportive care therapies and services to make the patient as comfortable as possible. In addition, palliative care offers assistance with advance care planning, with information sharing and decision-making for patients with complex medical issues.
Helping you manage:
- Pain
- Nausea
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Shortness of breath
- Poor appetite
- Constipation
- Advance care planning including a living will, power of attorney and medical directives
Emotional and Spiritual Support
The Yuma Regional Medical Center palliative care team is ready to help you deal with:
- Coping
- Loss
- Spiritual concerns
- Worries about loved ones
Your Palliative and Supportive Care Team
Your care team includes your doctor, nurse practitioners, specially trained registered nurses and medical assistants. The palliative care experts will partner with your other doctors to complement their care plan and help you feel more comforted and supported.
How Can Palliative Care Help Me?
You or a loved one is living with a serious illness such as heart failure, chronic lung disease, geriatric frailty, cancer, dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The palliative care team can help:
- Manage physical symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue and difficulty sleeping.
- Manage feelings of depression, anxiety, stress and loss.
- Work with your healthcare team to make sure you have the information you need about your disease.
- Ensure that your family and healthcare providers understand your medical goals as well as your concerns.
- Connect you with community services and offer you the support you need to feel as strong and healthy as possible.
- Provide at-home services when appropriate.
Our goal is simple: Help you feel as good as possible. We address the symptoms of your health condition and side effects of treatment to meet your physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs. Palliative and supportive care can be provided together with curative care or active treatment and at any stage of your illness. It is not the same as hospice, which focuses on comfort rather than curative treatment.
If you have questions about the palliative and supportive care offered at Yuma Regional Medical Center, please call 928-336-2165. For cancer related palliative and support care, please contact Yuma Regional Medical Center Cancer Center at 928-317-2518.