What is Home Connections?
The Home Connections palliative care program provides home-based care and support to assist patients and their families facing chronic, serious illness.
The Home Connections Team works in partnership with the patient's physicians to coordinate care and to help navigate the complexities of today's health care system.
Best of all, there is NO ADDITIONAL COST to the patient. Home Connections is covered in full by Independent Health and Caring Heart Home Care.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative Care provides services in the home to help patients and their families maintain independence and comfort during a serious and chronic illnes.
Services include:
- Pain and symptom management to improve quality of life
- Education about the disease
- Advice on living with chronic illness and developing goals of care
- Strategies for coping with side effects from treatments
- Assistance with advance care planning and decision-making
Home Connections Team Members Include:
- Patient's physician
- Palliative Care-trained home care registered nurse
- Social worker/counselor
- Volunteers
- Palliative care physician consultant
What does Home Connections offer?
- 24/7 on-call nurse and in-home assessments for symptom management
- In-home palliative care physician assessment and visits for symptom management
- Social work visits to help access community support services
- Supportive discussions for health care decision-making
- Frequent phone contact to monitor the patient's condition and answer questions
- Trained volunteers for friendly contact, light housekeeping, meal preparation, grocery shopping, and other services
Who is eligible for Home Connections?
Any Independent Health member residing in Erie County who is facing an advanced, progressive illness including, but not limited to:
- Advanced heart disease, including congestive heart failure
- Advanced lung disease, including COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and pulmonary fibrosis
- Cancer, whether or not the patient is undergoing active treatment with radiation or chemotherapy
- Chronic progressive neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, ALS, MS and stroke
- Alzheimer's disease and other progressive memory problems
- Progressive frailty of aging with declining functional ability
- Repeated hospitalizations or emergency department visits
