Palliative Care Services

Palliative care services at Valley are available to patients on an inpatient (hospital), outpatient and at-home basis. Regardless of where a patient receives their palliative care, they can expect personalized care and access to the full spectrum of palliative care services, including: 

• Pain and symptom management to achieve maximum patient comfort
• Treatments to maintain and improve patients’ ability to perform the tasks of daily living
• Emotional and spiritual support for patients and their caregivers
• Care coordination assistance
• Assistance with life planning and decisions, if appropriate, such as advance directives, living wills, power of attorney and other documents, including practitioner orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST)
• Help with transitioning to hospice, if appropriate

Inpatient Palliative Care

The inpatient palliative care program is overseen by Valley’s Medical Director of Palliative Medicine. Services are delivered at The Valley Hospital by advanced practice nurses and a social worker who work exclusively with palliative care patients.

Inpatients who meet certain criteria are referred automatically for a palliative care consultation. However, any patient or family member may request a consultation by asking their physician or nurse.

Outpatient Palliative Care

Patients who receive palliative care while they're hospitalized at Valley can transition smoothly to the outpatient palliative care program, which is overseen by Valley’s Outpatient Medical Director of Palliative Medicine.

At Valley’s Luckow Pavilion in Paramus, outpatient services are delivered by a physician and/or advanced practice nurse, in collaboration with a social worker, pharmacist and, when appropriate, a chaplain, who are trained to help palliative care patients.

Some patients who are receiving ongoing outpatient treatment at Valley will be automatically referred for a palliative care consultation. However, any patient or family member who is considering outpatient palliative care can ask their physician for a referral to the program or call 201-634-5699 directly to request a consultation.

In-Home Palliative Care

Valley's home palliative care providers work with patients' physicians and other home care team members to provide pain and symptom management and help patients and their families make important medical decisions.

For more information about home-based palliative care, please call 201-447-8413.