Largo – Empath Health has opened the Empath Health Palliative Care Clinic at the Diagnostic Clinic Medical Group’s Largo campus at 1301 2nd Ave. SW, to help those suffering from the many physical and emotional effects of serious illness. The clinic’s focus is consultative where the physicians and advanced registered nurses work alongside the patients’ physicians to provide the expertise of palliative care for the patients and their families.
Palliative care helps patients live the best they can through physical comfort as well as emotional and spiritual well-being. The palliative care team works to not only help patients but are also there to support patients’ families. Emphasis of this service is on resolving pain and other physical symptoms, assisting with medical treatment goals of care as well as helping make complex medical treatment decisions and facilitating advance care planning discussions. Palliative care can be provided to anyone of any age and can be introduced early, alongside curative treatments and helps during all stages of serious illnesses.
Patients of the Diagnostic Clinic Medical Group, as well as anyone in the community living with a serious illness, can request a palliative care consult referral to the Empath Health Palliative Care Clinic through their physician. The Empath Health Palliative Care Clinic is not a chronic pain management service.
Interim President and Chief Medical and Operations Officer of Diagnostic Clinic Medical Group, Dr. James Rivenbark III said, “We welcome Empath Health’s Palliative Care Clinic to our Largo campus. They will be a valuable resource to our physicians and patients, complementing DCMG’s many other services by offering physical and emotional support as they deal with serious illnesses.”
“Empath Health member Suncoast Hospice has been the trusted expert in palliative care for patients and their families for more than 38 years in our community,” said Rafael J. Sciullo, President and CEO of Empath Health. “Making palliative care more widely available will help those living with serious illnesses live the best lives they can.”
# # # #
About Empath Health: Empath Health is a nonprofit integrated network of care that provides expert, life-changing health care to those with chronic and advanced illnesses. Empath Health includes hospice, home health and physician services, independent living assistance and day care for seniors, HIV services and advance care planning. Contact Empath Health at (727) 467-7423 or EmpathHealth.org.