Palliative Care
Palliative Care: A New Way To Help Manage Pain And Symptoms
In basic terms, Palliative Care is comfort care—pain and symptom management—for patients with serious illness. Palliative Medicine is one of the newest medical specialties, established as physicians realized the importance to focus on physical, emotional and spiritual symptoms in treating a patient with a serious or terminal illness.
The diagnosis of any serious illness introduces a host of physical, emotional and social changes that affect the individual and the family. Bringing together the skills and knowledge of our board certified physicians and inter-disciplinary team, Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois addresses all the issues, problems and concerns that patients and families will confront.
Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois allows patients to continue curative treatments while our team helps manage difficult symptoms and facilitate discussions about their options, choices, goals for care and quality of life. The Palliative Care team works with the patient’s physician to provide a continuum of uninterrupted quality care throughout the course of the illness.
Palliative care can be helpful to those experiencing various symptoms, including but not limited to:
- pain
- shortness of breath
- difficulty sleeping
- fatigue
- loss of appetite
- nausea
Our Palliative Care program:
- Emphasizes pain and symptom management, and enhances patients’ abilities to tolerate medical treatment
- Provides emotional support and guidance during difficult and complex treatment choices
- Facilitates clear and concise communication with patient, family and medical community as goals and options change
- Assists patients and families as they navigate the healthcare system
- Assists with Advance Care Planning when appropriate
Our goal is to help you:
- Control your pain and symptoms
- Gain the strength to carry on with daily life
- Improve your ability to tolerate medical treatments
- Reduce emergency room visits
- Better understand your choices for medical care
Our Palliative Care team includes:
- Board-certified physicians specializing in palliative medicine
- Advance Practice Nurses certified in palliative care
- Trained patient care volunteers
- Social service specialists, including social workers and chaplains.
Dr. Paola Molina, Associate Medical Director
Dr. Molina joined our agency in 2009 after completing her Palliative Medicine Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As one of few physicians in the nation selected for the NIH Fellowship in Palliative Medicine, she has managed among the most complicated medical cases in our country. Dr. Molina completed an internship at Harvard University Medical School, and was a practicing hospice physician in Columbia. Bilingual and maintaining a dual citizenship, she is a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Barb Sutton, APN, CAHPN
After many years as a post-operative specialist and expert in home health care, Barb Sutton now focuses exclusively on providing palliative medicine and improving the quality of life of her patients. She maintains certification from the National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses. Her special skills and remarkable services led her to earn the 2004 Life Service Network Shining Star Award for the Chicagoland area. She has directed a team of more than seven Advance Practice Nurses and three physicians in caring for homebound adults afflicted with acute or chronic illnesses. Throughout her career, Ms. Sutton has developed relationships with community clinicians who value her collaborative and educational support. Moreover, she enthusiastically provides inpatient, facility and office learning opportunities throughout the region.
How can you access Palliative Care?
JUST CALL!
For information, call 224-770-2489.
Click here to download a PDF of our Palliative Care Fact Sheet.
