What Is Palliative Care?

Welcome to the Department of Palliative Care at Crystal Run. Palliative care, also called palliative medicine, is patient and family-centered care designed to improve the quality of life of patients with advanced illnesses.

Palliative care teams provide support for those with chronic medical conditions like congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), stage 4 cancer, severe stroke, neurological diseases, advanced dementia, and other terminal illnesses. It also helps to reduce emergency room visits and hospitalization.

At Crystal Run, our palliative care program covers outpatient, hospital, and home visits, and it focuses on:

• Management of distressing physical symptoms
• Psychosocial and spiritual support
• Advanced care planning

What is the Difference between Palliative Care and Hospice?

• Palliative care is initiated at any time during the treatment of a chronic or advancing illness, at any age.  Palliative treatments are not limited and can range from conservative to aggressive and curative.
• Hospice care is for patients with a life expectancy measured in months, not years. It provides limited treatment options that focus on alleviating symptoms, rather than treating an underlying disease. Hospice nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are typically the patient’s primary caregivers. Some people prefer hospice care at home, while others feel more comfortable receiving hospice services in a hospice care center. Whether you choose home hospice or a care center for yourself or a loved one, the main goal of hospice is to promote comfort.

Better Care at Crystal Run

Patients for whom all the following apply should be referred to the Palliative Care program at Crystal Run:

• Patient has experienced a progressive decrease in functional status and/or severe frailty
• Patient has had recurrent distressing symptoms despite optimal treatment
• Patient has had more than one hospitalization or two emergency department visits within six months

At Crystal Run, our expert palliative care team will work collaboratively with primary care providers (PCPs) and specialists to determine the best care approach for you or your loved one. Our highly skilled team is made up of:

• Andrew Faskowitz, DO
• Theresa Clearwater, FNP
• Care Team Nurse Practitioners
• Care Managers

Crystal Run provides patient-centered hospice and palliative care services at our Middletown, NY; Rock Hill, NY; and Newburgh, NY locations. Please call us at (845) 703-6999 or use our contact form to learn more.