FAQs
What is Palliative Care?
The root word “palliate” means “to ease.” Palliative Care is anything related to easing pain and symptoms. Our Palliative Care focuses on pain and symptom management for anyone living with an advanced serious illness. It can be provided while seeking curative treatment.
What is the difference between Hospice Care and Palliative Care?
Palliative Care can be offered for pain and symptom management for an advanced serious illness while the patient is still seeking curative treatment. Palliative Care is focused on improving quality of life and offering guidance and support with treatment options.
Hospice Care is appropriate when end of life is estimated to be 6 months or less, and the patient is no longer seeking curative treatment. Both Hospice Care and Palliative Care are specialties, much like cardiology for heart disease and oncology for cancer. Hospice care always includes pain and symptom management.
Does Trellis Supportive Care provide services only to people who have a short time to live?
No. Palliative Care is offered to patients who are not yet appropriate for hospice care and may still be seeking curative treatment, yet need assistance with pain and symptom management. We also offer training classes for caregivers, grief counseling, advance healthcare planning and guidance to those seeking information related to a serious illness. These services are free of charge to anyone in the community.
Should I wait for my physician to discuss Hospice or Palliative Care?
Absolutely not. For most patients and families, the relief when Trellis support is in place is immediate. We encouraged you to explore all of your healthcare choices. We will coordinate services with your physician when necessary. Patients and families consistently say, “I wish we had called sooner.”
Is Hospice Care only for patients who have cancer?
No. We serve patients with an estimated life expectancy of 6 months or less who have any life limiting illness including cancer, Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), Dementia, COPD, congestive heart failure (CHF), among many others.
Does Trellis Supportive Care serve only adults?
No. We serve anyone, including pediatric patients, with a life-limiting illness and an estimated life expectancy of 6 months or less. We have professionals who specialize in working with children, including our board certified art therapist.
How are programs and services funded?
As a non-profit organization, our services are provided to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. Generally, services are reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurances. We do rely, in part, on financial support from memorials, donations, church funding, special events, and overall community support to supplement specialized programs.
Is care provided only in the homes of patients?
No. Although most patients receive care in their homes, our services are available to residents of long term care facilities or wherever they call “home.” We also care for patients at our KBR Hospice Home in Winston-Salem.
What programs are available to members of the community dealing with grief?
We offer individual grief counseling, group counseling sessions, art therapy and community workshops to anyone in the community regardless of their connection to Trellis Supportive Care. Services are for both adults and children under the direction of professional counselors.
What is the benefit of accessing care from Trellis Supportive Care?
There are many benefits. Among the most significant, the patient and family receive comfort and support from a specially trained team of clinical staff and volunteers with the goal of maximizing the patient’s quality of life during life’s final chapters, helping the patient and family make the most of every day.
Trellis remains an independent, nonprofit organization, with care that goes above and beyond traditional hospice care services.