As featured in South Jersey Magazine, March 2021
According to Dr. Sara Pagliaro, director of inpatient palliative medicine at Samaritan, anyone living with serious illness can benefit from palliative medicine yet, according to the World Health Organization, only about 14% of people who need palliative medicine currently receive it.
Palliative care is the medical specialty that honors a patient’s goals of care and supports treatment decisions. It helps relieve pain and symptoms caused by serious illness. It is an extra layer of support that helps provide the best possible quality of life throughout the course of illness. Palliative medicine addresses a patient’s physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs and is for patients with any serious illness such as heart, lung, kidney, or liver disease to name a few. Accessing palliative care early in the course of illness can help relieve symptoms, stress, and suffering from the time of diagnosis and through treatments to enable the best possible quality of life for the longest amount of time.
Samaritan’s palliative medical team works with a patient’s other health care providers and consultations take place anywhere a patient lives: at home, in a long-term care facility, in a hospice center, in the hospital, or physician office. Palliative medicine is the choice to help patients, and those who care about them, live their best life every day. Call Samaritan today to schedule a consultation.
Samaritan
Sara Pagliaro, DO
Director of Inpatient Palliative Medicine
(800) 229-8183
SamaritanNJ.org