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Tender Loving Care: Home Visits to Seriously Ill Patients Provide Support, Relief

Posted on 08/13/2012

The Courier-Journal: A new program, known as outpatient palliative care, is part of an experiment sponsored by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, soon to expand throughout much of the Bay Area. This program sends nurses to homes of dying patients to help them cope and map out an end-of-life plan. A similar innovation will appear in San Jose in the fall with the opening of the Palliative Care Center Silicon Valley, the first independent stand-alone facility of its type in California, run by Hospice of the Valley. Krieger shares the story of 77-year-old Joseph Weigand, who was able to have a peaceful end through use of this palliative counseling. Weigand was able to talk about end of life openly with a nurse, and come to realize the quality, not quantity, of his life matters most to him. Krieger interviewed his family who let her know it was really helpful to have an outside person come into the home and facilitate discussions about end-of-life. It is easy to become overwhelmed as a caregiver, but this help provides necessary comfort and support.

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