Established in Dade County since 2014 is a Fully Operational Palliative Care Program – consultative services and community-based services in both Dade and Broward Counties.
What is Catholic Palliative Care Services (CPCS)
Catholic Palliative Care Services (CPCS) provides specialized medical care for individuals and their loved ones facing serious illnesses. Led by specially trained Palliative Physicians, our interdisciplinary team provides whole-person centered care aimed at improving the overall quality of life. We embrace our role in preventing and alleviating suffering while helping individuals and their loved ones cope with the burdens and stress of serious illness. We focus on matching patient’s goals to treatment choices.
Is Catholic Palliative Care Services Right for Me?
CPCS may be right for you if you are suffering from any chronic, debilitating or life-threatening illness, pain or distressing symptoms due to your illness or treatment. CPCS provides an essential, extra layer of support in partnership with the primary physician and other members of the medical team and enhances communication. With dedicated time to deeply explore goals of care, we create robust healthcare plans to prevent and ease suffering, providing patients with relief from distressing symptoms- such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of appetite, and anxiety- and other stressors associated with illness. Our palliative care services are appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness and is provided concurrently with routine disease treatment, including treatments to cure and reverse the effects of illness.
CPCS also provides support and advice for difficult situations and decisions that patients and families encounter, including social workers and chaplain team members for coping with stress, spiritual questions, financial concerns, or anticipatory grief and bereavement. Advance Care Planning is a mainstay of our CPCS services, and we support our patients and families in developing a Living Will, Advanced Directives, and Heath Care Power of Attorney so that their wishes are known and well documented.
Laura Chami, Music Therapy
Catholic Palliative Care Services Staff includes:
Palliative Care Board Certified Physicians
APRNs
LCSWs
Chaplains
Music Therapists
What are Benefits to having Catholic Palliative Care Services?
Provides relief from symptoms of suffering such as pain, shortness of breath, nausea, loss of appetite, constipation, and difficulty sleeping, to name a few
Provides information and support for understanding your medical illness, your options for medical care and setting realistic goals of care
Communicate and collaborate with your physicians and specialists to optimize your care
Support decisions related to social, ethical, and spiritual concerns as they relate to your illness
Help manage the stress of a serious illness
Assist with discharge and long-term care planning
Assist with advance care planning
Important Facts to Know
Catholic Palliative Care identifies and targets the high-need and high-risk patient population, before-during-and after a medical crisis e.g. hospitalization. Involvement in post-acute care transitions to the right site of care is the goal – from chronic illness through leading to EOL care.
CPCS success is attributed to using highly trained staff and/or facilitators to elicit individualized patient goals that are then used to guide care plans. This goal-setting, comprehensive needs assessment (including medical, behavioral, and social issues), and care plan development process contributes towards building a personal relationship between the patient, the family, and the care team/care coordinator.
CPCS offers flexible treatment of services with the intensity of the intervention and services scaled to the patients’ needs, which can fluctuate over time and course of a complex, serious illness.
Contact us at (305) 351-7086 (phone) or (305) 824-0665 (fax) or by email at palliativecare@catholichospice.org
Other Valuable Resources:
Health Care Advance Directives
Free Legal Advice for individuals 60 and older with low to moderate-income