| |
Dear Colleague,
Like birth, death touches us on many levels: spiritually,
socially, physically, and psychologically. Whether you work
in a hospital or church, a physician office or the court
room, a long term care facility or the media, you each have
the ability to touch families during this vulnerable life
passage.
I would like to invite you, my professional colleagues,
to join me in an effort to combine our talents to relieve
the suffering of patients and families as they face the end
of their journey together.
The goal of palliative care is to help patients and their
families, through an interdisciplinary approach, identify
what is truly important in their lives—what brings
them joy, serenity and meaning—and then do what we
can in our various fields to facilitate those qualities in
the time the patient has left. This takes “respect
my wishes” to the very highest level.
Interdisciplinary approach
Palliative
care draws upon the skills and insights of many:
- For a physician, it may mean prescribing appropriate
medications and doses so the patient is relieved of physical
pain.
- For a social worker, it may mean connecting the
family to needed services so family members are not so fatigued
by the mechanics of care that they are unable to spend
quality time healing old wounds and finding forgiveness.
- For a lawyer, it may mean assisting a family to
talk about health care planning, life support issues and
appointing a health care agent.
- For a member of the clergy, it may mean assisting a patient
to find the meaning of his/her life, or helping a bereaved
family member to process a loved one’s passing.
- For a nurse it may mean easing the transition as
a patient transfers from the hospital to a nursing home.
- For a facility administrator, it could mean creating
a room where the family can be together in the last few
days preceding a death.
- For members of the media, it may mean helping to
change community values so people feel more comfortable
talking about their wishes and advocating for the kind of
care they want.
As you
can see, we all have a part to play in this exciting new way
of providing care. In this section of our website, we of the
Grand Island Coalition for End of Life Care have assembled
links to online resources that can help you learn more.
I hope
that you will find insight and inspiration here and will join
me in making Grand Island a place that deeply cares for and
respects the wishes of its residents.
Yours,
Gordon Hrnicek, MD
|
|
