Baptist Health Corbin and the Palliative Care Center of the Bluegrass (PCCB) have joined forces to provide palliative options to Baptist Health patients.

Palliative care is designed to complement life-prolonging and curative treatments in the hospital by providing pain and symptom control, care of psychological and spiritual needs, family support, coordination among doctors and assistance transitioning between care settings. The number of hospitals offering palliative care services is growing rapidly.

“Palliative care aims to relieve suffering and improve quality of life for patients of any age with advanced illness,” said Todd Coté, MD, Chief Medical Officer for the Palliative Care Center of the Bluegrass. “This care is provided by an interdisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, social workers and chaplains, and offered in conjunction with other forms of medical treatment. The PCCB is pleased to partner with Baptist Health Corbin to offer this important option to patients.”

Coté adds, “We received a phone call recently from a Corbin patient’s family member who wanted to share how valuable the availability of palliative care was for his family. He said the team provided tremendous support to the whole family, spoke in terms the family understood, and were helpful in outlining the options for the patient, particularly comfort care.  He added that the team then gave the family time to think and process the information and did not rush them to formulate questions. He ended by saying how grateful he was that this care is now available in Corbin.”