Chillicothe VA Medical Center

Patriot's Loft Family Room at Dayton VAMC.

The VA wants you to know that YOU matter to us throughout all the stages of your life.

Lets face it: all chronic illnesses eventually run their course. As they advance, they become unresponsive even to the best of treatments.

• Good medical care has always been about helping you live well with a chronic illness, generally for many years.
• Most chronic diseases, in time, become more progressive.
• When that happens, it is not unusual for you and your family to have complex care needs.
• This is when the special attention and medical expertise of palliative care can be most helpful for you and your family.

Some examples of common chronic illnesses that progress over time and may benefit from Palliative Care:

• Congestive Heart Failure and heart diseases
• Chronic kidney disease
• Chronic lung diseases such as emphysema
• Many types of cancer
• Strokes
• Cirrhosis of the liver
• Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias

VA Healthcare System of Ohio is prepared to help you by providing specialized care teams called PALLIATIVE CARE (pronounced – PAL-lee-uh-tiv). Palliative Care teams are available to you at all our medical facilities, including our Ambulatory Care Center in Columbus.

Palliative Care innovations in the VA

Palliative Care places you at the center of the medical team. We take our direction from you when planning medical care.

Great strides have been made to provide excellent care to Veterans with chronic and progressing illnesses. VA Palliative Care teams make a difference by:

• Providing dedicated and expert palliative care doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and psychologists who have special training about life-limiting illnesses. They make sure that:
  • Your pain is well managed
  • You don’t have uncomfortable symptoms
  • You receive all medical care necessary to meet your goals for living well with good quality
  • Caring attention is given to what matters most for you and your family during this important time of living

Special inpatient hospice units are available at Cleveland and Dayton VAMC’s, and in 2012, will be available in Cincinnati.

DID YOU KNOW: Research shows that palliative care teams help in two important ways:

1. on average, patients receiving palliative care live two months longer than those who do not have palliative care teams working with them;
2. quality of life and mood is significantly better.
Temel, J.S. et al, Early Palliative Care for Patients with Metastatic Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer. N Engl J Med 2010;363:733-42.

The Palliative Care teams will also: 

• Make sure you and your family receives simple explanations for what is happening as your illness progresses.
• Provide timely information about how to best plan for future care needs, including helping you access hospice benefits.
• Minimize the frustration of repeating your needs over and over by making sure your care plan is shared with all your healthcare providers.

What is the difference between Hospice and Palliative Care?

• Both provide expert palliative care.
• Hospice care is provided when there is a life expectancy of 6 months or less.
• Hospice in the community is paid for and provided by special Hospice Community Partners.
• These Hospice Community Partners work with you and your family in the comfort of your home.
• To learn more about special work many Hospice Community Partners do for Veterans in their homes, see www.wehonorveterans.org**
• Palliative care is provided when the Veteran is still seeking treatment.
• Palliative Care offers control of a progressing illness when there is general agreement of a life expectancy of greater than 6 months.
• Hospice care has no co-pays and is provided without charge for ALL Veterans through the VA Medical Benefits package.
• Palliative care (unlike Hospice) carries a co-pay just as any other medical service provided by the VA would.
• Even if you have never been enrolled in the VA, as a Veteran you have the option of receiving hospice care without cost by virtue of your service to our country.
• Contact a facility Palliative Care Coordinator for questions about expedited enrollment.

In addition, you and your family may receive:

• Assistance accessing benefits that will help you live well, including the help of hospice care.
• Hospice can be provided in our facilities or in your home with our community partners.
• Help finding resources which are best suited to your needs both now and in the future.
• Comfortable care in our special units honoring the needs of you and your loved ones.
• Information about special Veteran benefits that may be helpful to you and your family.
• Specially-trained grief counselors who understand what you are going through and can help you and your family through any difficult times.
• Assistance from a Palliative Care Coordinator who makes sure your concerns and needs are top priority.

We would like to know, what does EXCELLENT care mean to you?

Our commitment to our nations’ Veterans is nothing less than providing EXCELLENT care for you and your loved ones. We invite you to tell us how we can make sure our care is:

• personalized
• reflects your priorities for comfort and quality of life

Who to contact for more information or assistance:*

Facility	Name	Title	Phone
VA Healthcare System of Ohio	Mary Davidson	Palliative Care Program Manager	513-247-4296
Chillicothe VAMC	Jennifer McCalla	Palliative Care Coordinator	740-773-1141 x6074
Cincinnati VAMC	Tiffanie Boone	Palliative Care Coordinator	513-861-3100 x4297
Cleveland VAMC	Beth McIver	Palliative Care Coordinator	216-791-3800 x3277
Columbus VA ACC	Charlene Crace	Palliative Care Coordinator	614-257-5542
Dayton VAMC	Kathy Hayes	Palliative Care Coordinator	937-268-6511 x2273

* If you would like a speaker to come to your service organization or club and talk about Palliative or Hospice Care for Veterans, please contact any of the above.

**Link will take you outside of the Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA)Website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked websites. The link will open in a new window.