When most people think about palliative care, they visualize someone who is suffering from pain, advanced cancer, COPD (congestive heart failure), or another fatal illness. Palliative care is specialized medical care for people also facing serious illnesses like dementia. The goal is to support the patient and the family on all levels, including physical, psychological, and spiritual.

What’s the difference between palliative care and hospice care?

Palliative care aims to ease pain and discomfort, reduce stress, and help patients —and their families— have the highest quality of life possible. Hospice care comes into play when a cure is no longer viable or when the treatment negatively outweighs the benefits. You can have palliative care at any stage of illness, along with other treatments.

Typically, with hospice curative medications or aggressive treatments for a patient’s illness are stopped. But not all medications are stopped. Medications that help relieve pain, nausea, anxiety and help a person breathe are an important part of hospice care.

In an article that appeared in Alzheimer’s TODAY (Volume 19, Number 1), Ann Wyatt, MSW, a leader in palliative care for people with dementia, says that people with dementia express their comfort and discomfort through their actions. It’s the caregiver’s responsibility to figure out the cause of the discomfort and help the person become more comfortable.

But that’s tough because dementia may prevent a person from communicating the source of distress. It’s usually not dementia that causes the distress, says Wyatt. (Although from my experience with my husband, his dementia caused frustration, anger, and irritability.)

Wyatt, says, “Most of the time it means that somebody is in pain or has some other discomfort. Dementia just means they can’t explain what it is.”

In a care facility, a resident might be given an antipsychotic drug to manage or misdirect behaviors that are perceived as aggressive. But the behavior might be a reaction to the person’s discomfort of being in a setting where schedules are instilled to provide efficiency and ease for the staff without considering the individual needs. For instance, a person who finds it hard to get up in the morning may exhibit “difficult behaviors” because they are woken early for breakfast or a shower, when they’d rather sleep in.

A personal anecdote

In my husband’s case, another resident occasionally, and mistakenly, walked into his room thinking it was his. My husband would shove him, and sometimes they got into a physical altercation. The situation was resolved when the other man was moved to the opposite side of the facility. This was a good example of palliative care. The caregivers removed the source of discomfort and stress for both residents (and families) by simply moving one resident to another area.

Simple ways to provide palliative care

• Aromatherapy is a miracle cure for stress and anxiety. Use a wall plug-in to diffuse the aroma of lavender oil to uplift mood, or place a few drops on a handkerchief and tuck it into a shirt pocket or on a pillow. Other oils to try: vetiver, frankincense, myrrh, orange, lemon, bergamot, and grapefruit.
• Play soothing music, and sing.
• Speak softly.
• Read to your loved one.
• Use dimmed lights and/or battery-operated candles.
• Beautify the environment with flowers.
• Massage and/or physical touch is a wonderful way to ease everyone’s tension.

Getting palliative care

A palliative care team helps patients and families find ways to improve their quality of life whether that means moving to a skilled nursing facility or getting good home care. To find palliative care in your area visit https://getpalliativecare.org/howtoget/find-a-palliative-care-team/.

Download the free booklet Palliative Care for People with Dementia at caringkindnyc.org for excellent information about a comfort-focused care approach

For dozens more tools and techniques for reducing stress, uplifting mood, supporting your immune system and finding ways to connect on a spiritual and emotional level with the person you care for, read Calmer Waters: The Caregiver’s Journey Through Alzheimer’s and Dementia.