Our Palliative Care team is committed to bringing comfort, supporting families and relieving pain and suffering of patients with advanced or life-threatening illness or injury. Typical patients have cancer but may also have advanced disease of the lung, heart or liver; advanced dementia; life-threatening stroke; advanced age; or a head injury. Our services, all free of charge, include:

• Monitoring pain and other symptoms
• Helping with financial issues
• Planning for returning home after a hospitalization or arranging care in an alternative setting
• Providing emotional support and education
• Helping individuals and families determine their desires for care and communicating those wishes to staff
• Assisting with filling out advance directive documents
• Watching over the care of patients who are dying at the hospital and supporting their family through the process
• Providing continuity of care and being available during every hospital admission and between hospitalization for support or assistance by phone

We offer a special quilt program to comfort our palliative care patients at Sacred Heart Hospital. Patients who are nearing the dying time are blanketed with a beautiful quilt hand-made by volunteers in our community. Every staff member at Sacred Heart Hospital understands the significance of the quilt and strives to give these patients and families extra gentle and caring attention.

Please download a brochure to learn more about our services.

We recognize that patients and families facing end-of-life issues may need to make some difficult decisions. Our team is available to help you sort through those issues and arrive at a conclusion that feels right for you. Some of those considerations may involve:

Advance Directives-Power of Attorney for Health Care
Advance Directives can be thought of as “directions in advance.” In the past, the Living Will was used as a document for this purpose. People age 18 years or older should complete an Advance Directive called a Power of Attorney for Health Care (POA-HC).

This document assures individuals that their voices are heard, even if they cannot communicate with their doctors because of an illness or accident.

The POA-HC is never used as long as a person can think clearly and communicate with others. But without warning, anyone's life can change drastically. An accident, stroke or onset of an illness can immediately change the course of life, making it necessary for a trusted, pre-appointed person (agent) to make decisions for someone who is unable to do so.

Please download a brochure to learn more about this service.

Artificial Hydration and Nutrition
Intravenous (IV) hydration is very commonly used in hospitals. A needle is placed into the body so that fluids and medications may be given.

There are times when a person can no longer eat or drink in a natural way due to disease process, incapacity or old age. Very often the issue of artificially providing nutrition (food) and hydration (water) is brought up.

Short-term use of these artificial means is usually well accepted, such as to support a patient who is recovering from a major surgery or an acute illness. More controversy surrounds the issue of providing artificial nutrition and hydration for a person who is very old or at the end of a long disease process.

Please download a brochure to learn more about this service.

Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a procedure used to revive a person when the heart and/or breathing stops. Hands press the chest to squeeze the heart, a machine may be used to shock the heart and air is forced into the lungs. CPR is often not successful for people who have many medical problems or are frail from age and whose body is simply worn out.

Some people who are elderly or who have many medical problems decide that they do not want CPR. This does not mean they wish to “give up” or will stop trying to get well. It means they are willing to accept death when it is their natural dying time.

Those who decide they do not want CPR need to have their doctor write an order that will say “no CPR,” “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) or “no code.” No other medical care has to change. DNR simply means that if someone’s heart or breathing stops as a natural process, no CPR is performed. (Those who wish to have "no resuscitation" need to wear a special bracelet that states this wish when they leave the hospital because Wisconsin law mandates that anyone without a DNR bracelet must be resuscitated.)

Please download a brochure to learn more about this service.

Hospice Care
Hospice is a type of “out of hospital” care for individuals who have a terminal diagnosis – an illness or condition from which there is no cure. A referral to hospice means a physician feels it is likely the illness might end a person’s life within the next six months. Hospice can be continued beyond six months if the physician determines that hospice care is still appropriate.

The purpose of this care is to manage pain; control any uncomfortable symptoms (such as shortness of breath, insomnia, anxiety and constipation); and provide a network of emotional, social and spiritual support for the individual who is sick and all family members and loved ones. It is a way to improve quality of life until the very end of life.

Please download a brochure to learn more about this service.

Stopping Dialysis to Allow Natural Death
People just starting dialysis usually think of this treatment as a benefit rather than a burden. But it is not uncommon for people to wonder about stopping dialysis – especially after some time has passed. They might be starting to find it more difficult to come in for treatments. They may be fatigued or weak from other illnesses. Their quality of life may be poor. They may just be tired of living. 

It is important to remember that dialysis is a treatment each person faced with kidney failure may choose to accept, refuse or stop.

The process of deciding to stop dialysis is often complex. There are many things to consider and thinking through the issues usually takes a long time – even as long as a year. If the decision is made to stop dialysis, the physician will change the direction of medical care to provide the best comfort. 

Please download a brochure to learn more about this service.

The Process of Dying – Comfort Care
The process of a person's life ending from old age or a chronic illness (strokes, dementia, cancer or disease of the heart, liver or lung) usually has a predictable and gentle course. It is a process of the body slowly losing its energy to continue. Subtle signs can be noted months ahead of the actual time of dying, but changes are most noticeable in the last weeks.

Some people feel the personal need to try all medical interventions offered to them until the very end of their lives. Others take a different path at the point when medicine stops working, the body declines in spite of treatment or they are too tired. They may choose a medical direction of comfort care when they want to focus on having the best quality of life possible. The goals then become making each moment peaceful and pain free, finishing life’s business and supporting loved ones.

Comfort care can be provided in the hospital if it is determined that death will likely occur within a few days. 

Please download a brochure to learn more about this service.

Ventilator Withdrawal to Allow Natural Death
The decision to have a loved one who is incurably ill removed from a breathing machine can be a heart-wrenching one. The doctors help with the decision-making process, but they can only provide the medical facts, information about options and examples of best and worst case scenarios. The family and loved ones are asked to describe the personality, goals, life values and preferences of the one who is on the ventilator.

The family must try to make a decision through the eyes of the patient. "What would he have wanted?" "What would she think of all these tubes?"

If a decision is made to withdraw the ventilator, family, friends and personal clergy can all be present in the room. In addition to the critical care staff, professionals from Pastoral Care and the Palliative Care department are present to offer support, counsel, education and comfort.

Please download a brochure to learn more about this service.