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HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Forrest General Hospital has a new stand-alone department.
The hospital's new Palliative and Supportive Care Program began seeing its first patients in August. Staffed by Dr. Jacob Graham and Registered Nurse Amber Chancelor, the program focuses on the relief of physical, emotional, social and spiritual suffering associated with serious illness.
"Most larger hospitals now have a palliative care program because of advancements in medicine and technology," said Chancelor, who serves as the program's coordinator. "People are living longer with more serious illnesses, so that makes it important to talk to them about their goals of care and what's most important to them."
One of the program's main objectives is to help relieve patients' symptoms — including pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea and loss of appetite — while coordinating care among patients' health care providers. Graham and Chancelor also provide communication with patients' families regarding concerns and treatment options.
"So for patients and families that are facing sometimes life-threatening or life-limiting illness, we'll go in and support them and talk through tough decisions that they'll be faced with," Chancelor said. "We'll talk about what they want now, and what they want moving forward. Our number one goal is improving the quality of life for patients.
"It's appropriate from the time of diagnosis of a serious illness, regardless of the prognosis, because patients in palliative care can still begin curative treatment — they don't have to forego aggressive treatment."
The program also is working with William Carey University to offer music therapy for patients, and is looking for retired music therapists to volunteer for those duties. There's even pet therapy, during which patients can relax and spend some time with certified therapy dogs Toby (a Labradoodle) and Hershey Kiss (a Chocolate Lab).
"Words cannot describe how amazing animal therapy is for patients," Chancelor said. "The dog comes in and essentially visits with the patient, does tricks for them. It's just very soothing to the patient.
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Information from: The Hattiesburg American, http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com
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