How can Palliative Care Services Help Seniors in Improving Quality of Life?

Every year, millions of senior citizens around the globe fall prey to deadly diseases that makes it essential for them to get quality care and assistance. Palliative care is a specialty field of medical care that deals with caring of senior citizens and even patients who are suffering from serious medical conditions.

Understanding Palliative Care

The main aim of palliative care is to improve the quality of life for patients as well as the family members. Palliative care services are generally provided to a patient suffering from curable and chronic diseases in addition to curative treatments and therapies. Palliative care for seniors helps senior citizens get relief from pain and suffering through a variety of activities and techniques. According to the World Health Organization, palliative care:

• Helps in providing relief from pain and other symptoms
• Motivates seniors to adopt an active lifestyle and consider death as a natural process
• Integrates spiritual, medical and psychological aspects for holistic patient care
• Provides a strong support system to the family members for coping up with illness and pain of loved one
• Aims at enhancing the quality of life for patients as well as the family members
• Is offered in addition to curative therapies generally during the early course of illness but can be offered at any stage

Who is it for?

Palliative care is an important aspect of elderly care. Senior citizens are known to suffer from many chronic diseases and serious illness. In such cases, palliative care services can work wonders to relieve them from anguishing symptoms. Majorly, palliative care services are used in cases where a patient suffers from the following conditions:

• Alzheimer
• Lou Gehrig disease
• Severe arthritis
• COPD
• Cancer
• Parkinson’s
• Congestive heart failure, etc.

Palliative care professionals look forward to improving the quality of life and enhance their will power to cope up with complex medical treatments and the symptom’s, thereof. Caregivers indulged in senior health care aim at relieving the following symptoms via palliative care:

• Pain
• Nausea
• Loss of Appetite
• Insomnia
• Depression
• Breathing difficulties

How does palliative care benefit the seniors?

During the old age, a person often suffers from the problem of discomfort and pain due to degrading health condition. Though medical science aims at relieving the pain, still sometimes, due to unlikely side effects, a patient suffers more as time passes by.

Palliative care specialists are trained and experienced in elderly care. They understand the impact of various drugs on an aging body and know much more in detail about pain and symptom management. Not only does palliative care services help in reducing the side effects of conventional medical care but also enhance the willpower of patient to fight a disease.

Caregivers can help seniors to fight stress and depression, provide necessary mental support, take care of everyday needs and improve the quality of life during the old age. Moreover, as they are experienced in dealing with senior patients, they can advise a family about the right course of action in a particular situation. Overall, palliative care services enhance the quality of care a senior can receive when he/she is suffering from a chronic disease.

If you have been thinking about palliative care for seniors, we hope that your basic questions and queries are resolved by this blog. If you are still confused, you can always contact the experts at Papaya Care. Papaya Care is a leading assisted living facility based in Gujarat that provides superior-grade elderly care, home care and palliative care services for seniors. With an established track record of providing quality care, trained senior care professionals and a state-of-the-art facility, we have everything to make old age a beautiful experience for your beloved elders.