Dateline DFCI
Hospice broadens services to Dana-Farber patients and families
To assure that patients approaching the end of their lives receive the highest quality of care possible, Dana-Farber earlier this year acquired a hospice program from nearby Waltham Hospital.
Susan Block, MD
Established in 1980, HealthCare Dimensions Hospice now offers palliative-care services to all DFCI patients needing them, as well as to patients from other medical facilities in the Boston area. Its staff strives to make patients comfortable, alleviate symptoms of their disease, and help control their pain. The care team includes physicians, nurses, medical social workers, home-health aides, pastoral counselors, bereavement counselors, and volunteers, usually in patients' own homes.
"Expanding access to highquality end-of-life care has been a longstanding priority for Dana-Farber's caregivers and patients," says DFCI President Edward J. Benz Jr., MD. "HealthCare Dimensions is a highly respected provider of hospice care, and together we hope to further strengthen the continuum of care we offer our patients and families."
Helping meld the new services into Dana-Farber's were Janet Abrahm, MD, director of the Institute's Pain and Palliative Care Program, and Susan Block, MD, chief of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care. "We are delighted to be integrating this terrific community resource into our care of oncology patients," Block remarks.
