Palliative care is specialized care for people living with an advanced illness. Hospice of the Piedmont started a new program in 2020 – Piedmont Care – that offers consult-based palliative care to patients in our twelve-county service area. Piedmont Care is focused on providing relief from the stress and symptoms of an advanced illness, with the goal of improving quality of life for the patient and their family – much like Hospice of the Piedmont’s approach to caring for those with life-limiting illnesses during their end-of-life.
“Piedmont Care allows us to see more people and impact more families in a positive way…we care for patients with situations that are not unfamiliar to us as hospice caregivers, and we are able to introduce the idea of holistic hospice care earlier to patients who will eventually need it,” says Piedmont Care Nurse Practitioner Ashleigh Bergstrom, “interacting with patients in a palliative care setting allows us to be more helpful and to see ahead of their needs.”
Ms. Bergstrom’s colleague, Piedmont Care Nurse Practitioner Sally Koch shared that providing palliative care in a house-call model helps ensure that “patients who have challenges getting to their doctor’s office are not lost to care… it’s good that we are able to provide accessible and highly personalized care at home.”
“Piedmont Care provides not just the medical piece but is provided by caregivers who come from a place of holistic care – something that patients typically don’t encounter in an office setting… we see people in a vulnerable place, and we can help make it a safe space… it’s powerful healthcare, with providers that address the whole person with attention to emotional wellbeing, and spiritual care,” says Lara Fisher Director of Piedmont Care.
The creation of Piedmont Care is made possible by the generous support of our community, which enables Hospice of the Piedmont to respond to the area’s top medical needs in a thoughtful and strategic way by establishing programs that will have a significant and broad impact on our friends and neighbors. We are grateful to our community for the tremendous support and dedication to providing palliative care; end-of-life care in homes and assisted living facilities; and free grief support for children and adults across central Virginia.
