Objectives | Current Activities | Accomplishments | Resources

Co-Chairs
Janice McDermott, NH Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
Charlene Forcier of Catholic Medical Center

“The goal of palliative care is to prevent and relieve suffering, and to support the best possible quality of life for patients and their families, regardless of the stage of the disease or the need for other therapies. Palliative care is both a philosophy of care and an organized, highly structured system for delivering care.  Palliative care expands traditional disease-model medical treatments to include the goals of enhancing quality of life for the patient and family, optimizing function, helping with decision making, and providing opportunities for personal growth. As such, it can be delivered concurrently with life-prolonging care or as the main focus of care.”
— National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care

 

As more people continue to live with chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening illnesses, including cancer, healthcare providers are working to provide effective care in these situations.

Cancer presents survivors and their families with a number of challenges. For example, more than 70% of survivors are estimated to experience pain, and many also experience nausea, difficulty breathing, depression, fatigue, as well as other physical and psychological symptoms. In addition, survivors and their families require the knowledge to make informed decisions, to maintain an enhanced quality of life, to optimize body function, and to preserve opportunities for personal well-being and development.

At all phases of the disease (staging, treatment, survivorship, relapse or recurrence, advanced illness, and dying), cancer-care providers of all disciplines should have the basic knowledge and skills required to:

• Communicate effectively with cancer patients and their families;
• Promote informed decision making; and
• Assess and manage physical discomfort and emotional distress.

The palliation work group designed its objectives to ensure that palliative care and consultation services as well as hospice programs are available to support survivors, families, and oncology teams. In July 2009, Governor Lynch signed a bill into law that will make hospice services available to the state's Medicaid population.. It is to the credit of the Governor, state legislators, the Department of Health & Human Services, and New Hampshire Hospice and Palliative Care Organization members in collaboration with the Home Care Association of New Hampshire that a hospice Medicaid benefit will be effective in July 2010.
 

Three objectives have been identified to guide palliation activities. Preliminary strategies for these objectives have also been identified, and will be clarified and expanded by the workgroup as it begins the implementation process.

Objectives | Current Activities | Accomplishments | NH Cancer Plan | Resources

New Hampshire Comprehensive Cancer Collaboration, c/o Foundation for Healthy Communities
125 Airport Road Concord, NH 03301
phone (603) 415-4276 · fax (603) 225-4346 · email: info@nhcancerplan.org