The Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network recently joined with other organizations to form the New York State Palliative Care Collaborative.
Specialized medical care that is focused on giving patients relief from pain, stress and other symptoms caused by serious illness, palliative care has an essential role in treatment that is increasingly recognized by the health care community, according to collaborative organizers. The Institute of Medicine”™s recent report, “Dying in America,” said it is “associated with a higher quality of life, including better understanding and communication, access to home care, emotional and spiritual support, well-being and dignity, care at time of death, and lighter symptom burden.”
Joan Dacher, a professor of nursing at The Sage Colleges in Albany, in the collaborative announcement said the institute report “places the issue of palliative care and advanced illness management front and center in the discussion of health care in the United States” and makes it “no longer possible to relegate palliative care to the margins of health care as an attempt to deny care to individuals. Palliative care is firmly situated on the continuum of care and is recognized to be a hallmark of the highest possible care.”
The Albany-based collaborative aims to build a grassroots network of individuals, families and health care providers for education about and access to quality palliative care for all New Yorkers diagnosed with a chronic, progressive or life-limiting illness. Organizers said it will recruit community-based activists and leaders and lobby in Albany for palliative care legislation and policy. Members also will develop strategies to educate the public about palliative care rights mandated by New York state laws.
“Palliative care can be integral to helping patients tolerate complex treatment protocols, thereby helping them achieve the maximum intended benefits of treatment,” said health care consultant Cheryl Gelder-Kogan. “Palliative care can help keep patients at home, avoiding costly and inconvenient hospitalizations, improving quality of life for the patient and for their loved ones.”
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