Palliative Medicine
& Supportive Care
Compassionate care when you need it most.
If you or someone you love is a patient at Salinas Valley Health and facing a serious illness, palliative care can help. Our palliative care team uses a variety of approaches and therapies to control symptoms, manage pain, reduce stress, and assist with navigating difficult decisions and establishing patient-centered goals.
This specialized area of medicine has been shown to enhance quality of life for patients and their family members. At Salinas Valley Health, our palliative care team includes board-certified physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, chaplains, pharmacists, dieticians and practitioners of healing arts such as music, art and pet therapies, aromatherapy, massage and healing touch.
Together, we make sure that you receive:
- Expert treatment of your symptoms including pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite and problems with sleep.
- Care that helps improve your ability to tolerate medical treatments.
- Coordination of your care among all your healthcare providers.
- Emotional and spiritual support for you and your family.
- Practical information for day-to-day living.
- Referral and coordination of home care services.
Inpatient and outpatient settings
Many patients first come in contact with our services while in the medical center, yet these services can also be beneficial outside of the medical center setting. To better serve our community, Salinas Valley Health offers palliative and supportive care services in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.
Our outpatient clinic offers a more relaxed atmosphere, with a multidisciplinary team of providers who can address symptom management, illness understanding, coordination of care and advance care planning in a 30-60 minute appointment. Families are always encouraged to ask questions and participate.
Advance Care Directive
Advance care planning involves thinking about what is most important to you, as an individual, to help guide your overall treatment. An advance directive lets your healthcare team and loved ones have a better understanding about what is important to you should there come a time when you are unable to express this for yourself.
Most people have never really considered these issues - and it can be scary to think about potentially not being able to make decisions for yourself. View this communication to your family as a gift that you can give to guide them if they are called upon to make decisions for you.
Advance Care Directives
Advance Care Directives: Loida Osoteo’s Story
Planificación Anticipada de la Atención Médica
La planificación anticipada de la atención implica pensar en lo que es más importante para usted, como individuo, para ayudarlo a guiar su tratamiento general. Una directiva anticipada permite que su equipo de atención médica y sus seres queridos comprendan mejor lo que es importante para usted en caso de que llegue un momento en que no pueda expresarlo por sí mismo. La mayoría de las personas nunca han pensado realmente en estos problemas, y puede ser aterrador pensar en la posibilidad de no poder tomar decisiones por sí mismo. Piense en esta comunicación a su familia como un regalo que puede darles para guiarlos si se les pide que tomen decisiones por usted.
La Importancia de una Directiva Anticipada de Atención con el Dr. Kyle Youngflesh
For more information about our Salinas Valley Health palliative medicine services, call:
- Inpatient services: 831-759-3049
- Outpatient services: 831-676-0210
Many insurance plans, including Medicare and Medi-Cal, cover palliative care services.
The Palliative Care program is funded in part by a generous gift from Hospice Giving Foundation.
