Late-stage Parkinson’s disease brings a lot of changes and challenges to patients and the people who love them and want to help them. Palliative care services offer everyone involved support that helps to keep patients comfortable, offers them dignity, and supports quality of life.
Symptom Management with Palliative Care
As Parkinson’s disease progresses, patients may find themselves dealing with more pain and having increased difficulty with motor control. Palliative care offers therapies and techniques to help patients be more comfortable and reduce suffering. These treatments may not be available until patients enter hospice care, simply because the focus of hospice shifts to a more palliative function.
Personalizing Care Plans
Although Parkinson’s patients often have the same symptoms, the severity, and other health issues are usually drastically different. Each patient needs a plan for addressing the problems they’re facing.
Palliative care focuses on treating each patient as an individual, rather than just another Parkinson’s patient.
Supporting Daily Activities
Palliative care helps Parkinson’s patients get the help they need to bathe, change clothes, eat, and remain comfortable throughout each day. They offer support to patients as they move through the house or transition from seated positions to a walker or wheelchair as well. If patients use mobility aids, palliative providers help them learn to use them properly and safely.
Offering Emotional Support
Parkinson’s disease is an emotionally challenging condition to manage, especially in the later stages. Palliative care can help families and patients find the emotional and psychological support that they need during this difficult stage of illness. Managing stress, anxiety, and other difficult emotions is a big part of helping families cope with the changes they’re experiencing.
Offering Spiritual Support
Anyone nearing the end of life can face spiritual questions and concerns. Palliative care can help families find the spiritual support that they need to help address remaining existential questions and concerns. This spiritual support can also help with planning memorials and celebrations of life, including end-of-life reflection.
Creating a Soothing Environment
At the end of life, a comfortable and soothing environment reduces stress and offers some level of normalcy. Hospice care providers can offer a variety of different solutions that help foster a calm environment while also keeping the patient as safe and happy as possible. When someone enters hospice at home, they’re able to maintain their routines, which is also a huge comfort at this time.
Helping Family Members Understand
The end of a family member’s life is a complicated time for the people who love that person. They may have a hard time understanding new or increasing symptoms and how to help. Palliative care providers can play a huge role in helping family members learn what they need to know to be there for the person dealing with late-stage Parkinson’s disease.
Patients in the later stages of Parkinson’s disease often require more support than they did in the past. Palliative care providers work with families to determine what the patient and family need and then put the right solutions in place.
If you or your aging loved one could benefit from Palliative Care Services in Bamberg SC, contact the caring staff at Grove Park Hospice, at (803)536-6644.
Providing Hospice & Palliative Care in Orangeburg, Bamberg, & Calhoun Counties.
Our team provides care tailored to each patient and family’s individual needs and preferences. Our commitment to promoting comfort and dignity to persons living with a life‐limiting illness is demonstrated daily by our caring team of professionals and volunteers. Grove Park Hospice provides pain management and symptom control, allowing families to focus on what matters most. Our team of nurses certified nursing assistants, social workers, chaplains and volunteers spend quality time with patients, ensuring they are comfortable and at peace.
Choosing Grove Park Hospice means choosing to live life to its fullest. We focus on enhancing quality of life by offering an array of services to our patients and their families.
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