What is Pacific Palliative Care?

Pacific Palliative care is a home-based, outreach, consultant support service for the discomfort, symptoms, and stress of serious illness. It does not replace your primary treatment; palliative care works together with the primary treatment you’re receiving. The goal is to prevent and ease suffering and improve your quality of life.

Pacific Palliative care strives to provide you with:

• Assistance and guidance to improve quality of life
• Open discussion about treatment choices, including treatment for your disease and management of your symptoms.
• Coordination of your care with all of your health care providers.
• Emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual support for you and your family.

Pacific Palliative care is a team approach to patient-centered care.

Your Pacific Palliative care team may include:

• Nursing
  • Available for in-home visits
  • 24-Hour phone support
  • Medication education
  • Education on disease & disease process
• Social Services
  • Assistance with community resources
  • Available for in-home visits
  • Emotional support
• Chaplain Services
  • Spiritual Support
  • Available for in-home visits

How do you know if you need palliative care?

You may want to consider palliative care if you or your loved one:

• Suffers from pain and/or other symptoms due to any serious illness
• Has physical pain that is not under control
• Needs help understanding their illness and discussing treatment
• Needs additional advocating & supportive services

Where is palliative care provided?

Palliative care can be provided in the hospital, at outpatient clinics, or at home.

Will my insurance cover palliative care?

At this time, only patients covered under  Blue Shield, Health Plan of San Joaquin or Health Net are eligible for Pacific Palliative Care. 

Who else, beside the patient, can benefit?

Everyone involved! Patients as well as family caregivers are the special focus of Pacific Palliative Care. 

Palliative care vs. Hospice care.

Palliative care is available to you at any time during your illness. Remember that you can receive palliative care at the same time you receive other treatments for your illness. You don’t have to be in hospice or at the end of life to receive palliative care.

Hospice focuses on a person’s final months of life. To qualify for some hospice programs, patients must no longer be receiving treatments to cure their illness.