Palliative Care: Quality of Life and Comfort Redefined with Visiting Angels Kilmarnock

The most common question people ask us is: What is the difference between palliative and hospice care? Palliative care focuses on the well-being and comfort of a person, regardless of life expectancy. Hospice care also focuses on comfort; however, the hospice program specializes in services for people nearing the end of life.

How can the Certified Palliative Care Program with Visiting Angels Kilmarnock help your senior loved one?

Our program seeks to assist your loved one in achieving their highest quality of life. We accomplish this by first talking with you, the family caregiver, and your senior loved one to understand priorities and individualized goals. Following this collaboration, we then customize our program for your loved one’s specific needs.

What could a typical day look like if we hire Visiting Angels?

Our compassionate caregivers are flexible and will communicate with you about your senior loved one’s daily activities. For example, our caregivers provide companionship by conversing about current topics, driving seniors to doctor’s appointments, shopping for groceries, doing laundry, preparing light meals, and assisting with bathing and grooming as needed. Our caregivers are another set of hands and hearts to make life run as smoothly as possible, so your senior loved one has maximal comfort and minimal stress.

What are a few examples of Visiting Angel’s clients?

Our clients have a wide variety of medical illnesses and challenges. We care for people who:

• Recently returned home from the hospital and are recovering from surgery or illness
• Have chronic health conditions, such as emphysema, diabetes, dementia or Parkinson’s
• Need a helping hand due to physical limitations such as arthritis or from a previous stroke
• Are in the earlier stages of fighting a longer-term illness such as cancer

Visiting Angels Kilmarnock provides holistic, palliative care services. What does that mean?

We pride ourselves in our holistic approach to care for seniors, including nurturing their emotional, physical, social, and spiritual needs. We look at the person as a whole, not as a person with cancer or Parkinson’s. We address emotional needs by demonstrating compassion and care to help alleviate feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. We meet our clients’ physical needs by completing tasks required around the home, so the client does not expend limited precious energy or create pain by completing less important day-to-day tasks. We facilitate socialization for our clients by spending time one-on-one with them, driving them to meet with friends or family, and promoting socialization electronically through our Social Care Program. Lastly, we respect how important spirituality is for our clients. We help meet our clients’ spiritual needs based on however they see fit and based on their beliefs.

Visiting Angels is the premier in-home senior care company servicing Kilmarnock and surrounding areas, including Gloucester, White Stone, and the northern neck-middle peninsula region of Virginia. If you or a senior loved one could benefit from palliative care services with Visiting Angels Kilmarnock, please call 804-259-0193 to speak with us. You can also contact us online to request more information.