Palliative Care Expertise
Our well-versed team can coordinate your care among all your health care providers and assist you with communicating about your illness and treatment choices. We help many patients who face conditions including cancer, kidney failure, heart failure, Parkinson’s disease, liver failure, Alzheimer’s disease, respiratory conditions including COPD – plus ALS, MS and other central-nervous system conditions.
Symptom Relief with Palliative Care
Our palliative care team can help alleviate severe symptoms when facing serious illnesses, including these and others:
- Cancer
- Kidney failure
- Heart failure
- Parkinson’s disease
- Liver failure
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Respiratory conditions, including COPD
- ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), MS (multiple sclerosis) and other central-nervous system conditions
Advance Care Planning
Our care teams help you express your preferences. We can use your living will or medical power-of-attorney paperwork to make sure your intentions are clear to all parties. Creating these documents and agreements, which usually begins with a family conversation, can relieve burdens.
Dedicated to Improving Your Health
We offer evidence-based approaches to symptom management, and we work with your provider to ensure you’re at the center of all our approaches. You can find improvements with several symptoms, such as:
- Pain
- Trouble with breathing
- Sleep issues and discomfort
- Constipation and other digestive irregularities
- Appetite and digestion
- Numbness
A Care Team Focused on You
Palliative care can lead to many questions and obstacles. Our team is well-versed, and we can use our experience to help you with:
- Care coordination among all of your health care providers
- Communication assistance about your illness and treatment choices
- Emotional and spiritual support for you and your family
- Expert treatment for your pain and symptoms
- Assistance with home health care solutions
- A hospitalist team that provides identical services to our hospitalized patients
Department of Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center
