Submitted by Providence St. Peter Hospital
Early this year, Providence opened an outpatient palliative care clinic, and its impact is already being felt by the patients and families seeking care. This clinic is located on the hospital’s campus and is a precious resource for patients and families.
Providence St. Peter Hospital has provided superior palliative care for hospitalized patients for several years. This type of care is supportive; it focuses on relieving pain, symptoms and the stress of serious illness. Its goal is to prevent and relieve suffering and to ensure the best-possible quality of life for patients and their families, like Greg Prosser, who lives on Harstine Island, Washington. Last year, at age 55, Greg was diagnosed with cancer in the throat and mouth. He had surgery that removed part of his jaw and half of his tongue. Greg completed rehab, but had trouble accessing all the care he needed. “I was in very, very bad shape,” Greg says.
Greg arrived at the Emergency Center this spring suffering from acute malnutrition and severe pain. He was admitted to the hospital, where he stayed for 18 days. The hospital’s palliative care team came to his room to see if they could help. “Their care was all-encompassing,” Greg says. “They coordinated with Department of Social and Health Services. They scheduled appointments and in-home care and helped with pain management and financial problems.”
With palliative care now available on an outpatient basis, patients like Greg can access these services at an earlier stage, with a focus on drawing attention to quality of life and integrating medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of care.
In fact, Greg says it was after he left the hospital that most of the help really started. Greg says the palliative care team helped reduce his pain, change his medications so that they are now affective, and reduced his nausea.
“There’s nothing they haven’t helped me with. I went from nothing, to everything. Every single problem I have, they have addressed.” He now visits the outpatient palliative care clinic each month and has referred a friend to the clinic, as well. “I feel for the first time that anybody gives a damn.”
“They don’t quit on you,” Greg says. “They take their time, and it’s in depth. They have created a tremendous change in my life.”
The new clinic was funded through donor contributions, including last year’s Christmas Forest Fund-A-Need, which raised $268,000 for this clinic.
To make an appointment, call (360) 486-6402. To learn more about the impact of philanthropy at Providence, and this year’s Christmas Forest at www.provforest.org.
