Frequently Asked Questions: Palliative Care

Palliative care is specialized medical care that aims to improve your quality of life by relieving pain and symptoms that come with a serious illness or medical condition (such as cancer, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, Alzheimer’s, and many more). 

You can receive treatment from your doctor to cure your medical condition while the Harbor Palliative Care team treats pain and other symptoms caused by your treatment or your medical condition. The team at Harbor Palliative Care will partner with you, your doctor, and those around you to learn your personal goals and design a plan for you.

If you’re having trouble coping with the physical or emotional pain associated with a serious medical condition, palliative care may be right for you. You don’t need to wait until you’re in the final months of life to start palliative care. You can have palliative care at any age and any stage of a serious condition. The earlier you begin palliative care, the more we can do to help you.

If palliative care is something you are considering, talk with your doctor and ask for a referral to Harbor Palliative Care or a palliative care specialist.

Palliative care will improve your quality of life and make it easier for you to carry on with many daily activities. You can expect to have relief from symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping. You can also expect frequent communication from your Harbor Palliative Care team, more control over your care, and help matching your goals to your treatment choices.

The goal of palliative care is to enhance your current care by focusing on your quality of life, while you continue treatment for your medical condition, so you can feel better and enjoy the people and things you cherish. The Harbor Palliative Care team takes the time to fully understand your goals, ensures you understand your treatment options, and helps you align treatment options with your goals. We will also coordinate with your doctors and make sure they know and understand what you want, which will give you more control over your care. We want to help you get the treatment you want and deserve.

Harbor Palliative Care is licensed by Medicare and Medicaid, which reimburses for hospice care and is approved to participate with most other health insurance companies.

No. The palliative care team provides an extra layer of support and works in partnership with your primary doctor.

Both palliative care and hospice care treat the symptoms of a serious medical condition or illness and focus on improving the quality of a patient’s life. Both provide regular visits from our specially trained staff and volunteers to support and monitor how the patient and the patient’s family or caregivers are doing.

Hospice care is for patients who have been told by their doctor that it is likely they have six months or less to live, and who have decided not to continue with treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy that are aimed at curing their medical condition.

Palliative care is for patients who want to continue to treat their serious illness or medical condition, and who need relief from the symptoms and side effects of their treatment or medical condition such as diarrhea, pain, and nausea.

Yes. Harbor Palliative Care works hand-in-hand with Harbor Hospice so you can easily transition to hospice care when you decide to stop treatment and your doctor believes you have six months or less to live. A patient considering hospice care or wondering about the services Harbor Hospice provides can request a visit from a member of our hospice team at any time, at no cost.

Advance care planning helps us identify your palliative care needs by offering a framework for exploring and understanding your current values and goals and how they might change if your medical condition changes.  Advance care planning also gives you more control over your health care by ensuring that decisions regarding your medical treatment will be based on your preferences, instead of leaving the responsibility for those decisions to your family or doctors.