MISSOULA — Missoula now has a dedicated space for patients and families to have serious conversations about life-limiting illnesses with the opening of a new Palliative Care clinic.
The new clinic inside Partners in Home Care held its grand opening Wednesday, celebrating the facility that has been serving patients since July.
"Patients and families love it, they love the ability to leave their homes," said Brooke Sternberg, nurse practitioner with Palliative Care.
The new facility addresses privacy concerns some outpatients may have about receiving care at home.
"Perhaps you don't want people in your home or come from different neighborhoods that you're sharing housing, things like that. People like a private space where they can have these serious, great conversations," said Charlene De Grassi, nurse practitioner.
The clinic serves patients with life-limiting illnesses including dementia, Parkinson's disease, cancer and other conditions. Despite its size, the space facilitates important healthcare decisions.
"We're having really hard conversations about what our goals are moving forward, what the patient wants out of their care, whether they wanna pursue aggressive treatments or they wanna pursue comfort and try to control symptoms that have been really hard to manage," De Grassi said.
The new clinic on Palmer Street will complement, not replace, existing home visit services.
"We'll continue to do routine home visits, and do palliative care visits at home, but having the option of patients coming to our clinic, is just super great for those in surrounding communities," Sternberg said.
Current Palliative Care patients can now schedule visits at the clinic. You can visit their website to learn more.
