Palliative Care

The Palliative Care Program at St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children helps those with life-threatening and/or life-limiting illnesses and their families find better ways to manage their physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual pain. A 2004 recipient of the prestigious Circle of Life Award from the American Hospital Association, St. Mary’s has been recognized nationally for its excellence in palliative care. Utilizing a comprehensive, family-centered approach complete with bilingual support, an interdisciplinary team of expert healthcare professionals establishes a plan of compassionate interventions designed to alleviate suffering, relieve pain, improve quality-of-life, and treat the symptoms associated with illness.

Programs and Services We Offer
The first program of its kind in the nation, St. Mary’s Palliative Care Program combines complementary care, medical care, and a variety of therapies into an integrative treatment plan. This enhances the process of healing, maximizes the effects of all therapies, promotes greater comfort, diminishes symptoms associated with disease progression, manages pain, and reduces stress and spiritual suffering.

Adapting to each child and family’s specific needs, our care delivery includes combinations of pain medications, rehabilitative therapies, and relaxation energy modalities such as acupuncture and Reiki, which enhance the body’s innate healing abilities. Services include:

		acupuncture			meditative and relaxation therapies music/sound therapy
		advanced care planning
		animal-assisted therapy			play therapy
		art therapy			psychology
		child-life therapy dietary and nutritional care			Reiki therapy
					social work
		disease-modifying care			tai chi
		educational services			therapeutic activities
		family counseling			therapeutic massage/touch
		guided imagery			traditional rehabilitative therapies
		martial arts			yoga

Psychological and Spiritual Support
Available in all settings—inpatient and in the home—pastoral care, bereavement counseling, psychological, and social work services are tightly interwoven into the Palliative Care Program. Families of very sick children are also encouraged to reach out and support one another, under the supervision of our professionals.

End-of-Life Care
When death becomes imminent, our professionals assist the child and family in crafting a peaceful dying plan, one that surrounds the child with signs of unconditional love: family, friends, pets, toys, and meaningful belongings.