Source: SeriousIllness.org

When your family member is in pain, you are suffering too. The “mirror neurons” in our brains are programmed to recognize pain in others. That’s good news, in that it arouses compassion and spurs us to action. But it can be bad news, too. When you’re highly attuned to a loved one’s pain, you’re at higher risk of depression and self-neglect.

Learn about pain management. Your ability to reduce your relative’s experience of pain will help both of you.

- Report symptoms and ask questions. Download the Pain Tracking Kit offered by Partners Against Pain. And ask the doctor for a consult with a palliative care specialist. They have special training in pain control.

- Learn about medications. Master the steps you can take to lessen pain when it occurs.

Our article on managing pain provides guidelines for other remedies you can use at home.

Accept what is beyond your power and focus on what you can control.

• Emphasize comfort. Remind yourself, “Today, I may not be able to stop the pain, but I can still [prepare food, massage feet, etc.].”
• Provide distractions. If your family member is engaged in an activity, he or she is less likely to be aware of the pain.

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For more information about Hospice & Palliative CareCenter, contact Ann Gauthreaux, public relations director, at 336-768-3972, or see Hospice’s website at http://www.hospicecarecenter.org!

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Source: Journalnow.com
By PAUL GARBER

Start with a blank piece of paper and a pencil.

Now think of the kind of health-care system you’d like to have. Design it from scratch assuming you don’t know what kind of family you’d be born into — rich or poor, black or white, rural or urban.

What would it look like? Probably nothing like the system we currently have, said Diane Meier, an internationally known expert on palliative care.

Meier said the health-care system in the United States is broken and needs to be fixed from the bottom up. She urged people to work together and raise their voices to demand change.

“The public is very powerful, and it’s a sleeping giant,” she said. “Create a movement that would create change.”

Meier said from what she’s heard from her patients and during her travels, people want a health-care system in which doctors have more time to spend with their patients, in which they will listen better to their patients’ concerns, and if they get sick will come to their homes rather than having them shuttle between hospitals and doctors offices.

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For more information about Hospice & Palliative CareCenter, contact Ann Gauthreaux, public relations director, at 336-768-3972, or see Hospice’s website at http://www.hospicecarecenter.org!

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Ann Gauthreaux and Jane Smart from Hospice & Palliative CareCenter appear on Triad Today to discuss Palliative Care and the addition to the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home.

For more, visit http://www.hospicecarecenter.org!

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What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is medical care focused on relief of pain, symptoms, and stress of serious illness – whatever the diagnosis. Palliative care is provided simultaneously with all other medical treatments.

How can the Palliative Care team help me and my family?

When you are on the front lines of an illness, you need answers, relief, expertise, and support. Our team of board-certified physicians, nurse practitioners, and licensed counselors makes sure that all your concerns are addressed.

For more, Visit us at: http://hospicecarecenter.org!

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