We seek every opportunity to meet the unique needs of each person we are privileged to serve – every time, every touch. Important to palliative care is the communication and coordination of treatment options to maximize quality of life for patients, according to the individual patient's goals and wishes. We do not replace your doctors. We work with your doctors to help you achieve the highest quality of life and decide on healthcare options, based on your personal goals of care.

You can get more information about palliative care from your healthcare team or by contacting one of the Inova palliative care teams listed below. We can put you in contact with palliative care experts who will provide you with detailed information about what services are available. You will need a physician referral to receive palliative care.

Palliative Care for Better Quality of Life Now If you or a family member is living with a serious illness, specialized medical care is available to help control your symptoms and make you more comfortable right now. What is Palliative Care? Expand Content Palliative care (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv) is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. Palliative care is focused on the unique physical, psychological and spiritual needs of patients living with serious or life threatening illness.

Caregivers often feel they have little time to attend to their own needs. This is especially true in caring for loved ones with a serious or life-threatening illness. It is critical that you care for your own physical health and well-being. Equally critical is that you connect with family and friends who can support you. Ignoring your needs can lead to health problems of your own, physical and mental exhaustion, and isolation. This added stress makes it even harder for you to care for your loved one at this important time for both of you.

Each Inova hospital has a team of experienced palliative care physicians and other clinicians to provide palliative care for either you or your loved one. Go here if you would like to find out more about palliative care at a specific Inova hospital.

Helpful Documents and Sites Advance Directives Forms for Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC, and West Virginia Advance Directive Resource Sheet  Advance Directive Tool Kit  "Your Right to Decide" Booklet Online Registry Fact Sheet  Glossary of Palliative Care Terms  Personal experiences with palliative care  Quiz – "Is Palliative Care for Me?" Additional Information Aging with Dignity's Five Wishes Aging with Dignity is a national non-profit organization, inspired by the life and work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Physician Testimonial Joanne Ondrush, MD  Director of Medical Critical Care Services Inova Fairfax Hospital"I find the palliative care service a tremendous asset to my patients. The palliative care team is immediately available, seeing patients sometimes within the hour of my call. The physicians are compassionate and patient, having those difficult, time-consuming conversations which occur often in the ICU setting.

Helpful Websites PalliativeDrugs.com This website provides essential, comprehensive and independent information for health professionals about the use of drugs in palliative care. Palliative.info A website offering links to a variety of assessment and evaluation tools. Palliative Care Tools Program evaluation tools developed or used by PEELC grantees and a resource of validated, published key clinical assessment and research tools used int he field of palliative care.