Palliative care can help you feel better, manage symptoms and find support while living with a serious illness.

Living with a serious illness can affect every part of your life, not just your physical health. Our palliative care specialists focus on relieving symptoms, reducing and coping with stress, supporting your needs and helping you and your family plan for the future.

We offer care where you need it, either in the hospital or on an outpatient basis. We are the only academic health system in central Missouri to offer outpatient palliative care services to children and adults.

Am I a Candidate for Palliative Care?

Palliative care may be right for you if you want more support managing your illness and improving your quality of life. You may benefit if you answer “yes” to two or more of the following questions:

• Do you have one or more serious illnesses, such as cancer, heart failure or Alzheimer’s disease?
• Do you have symptoms that make it difficult for you to do activities you enjoy?
• Have you had more than three emergency room or hospital visits in the past year for symptoms or side effects?
• Do you need more information or support to manage your illness? (This includes help with making medical decisions or finding community resources.)
• Do you want help coping with stress, anxiety or depression related to your illness?

You can receive palliative care at any stage of illness. Whether you are newly diagnosed or have a longstanding health issue, we’re here for you. We’ll focus on helping you live as well as you can today while planning for your needs in the future.

How to See Our Palliative Care Team

You don’t need a referral for palliative care. You can schedule a single, one-hour appointment with us or ongoing visits depending on your needs and preferences.

Our Approach to Palliative Care

At MU Health Care, we focus on treating the whole person, not just your illness. Your care team may include:

• Palliative care physicians: Oversee your palliative care plan and coordinate with your other specialists when needed.
• Palliative care nurses: Help manage your symptoms, medications and other concerns.
• Social workers: Can connect your family to community resources and assist with insurance needs.
• Physical therapists and occupational therapists: Recommend and help you perform exercises to help maintain your function and independence.
• Counselors: Can suggest strategies for managing stress, anxiety and grief related to illness.
• Chaplains: Support you and your family’s spiritual needs.
• Yoga practitioners: Can show you gentle exercises to ease your symptoms.

Together, we’ll help you live well, with your comfort and well-being as our primary focus.

Conditions We Treat

Palliative care can help people living with many serious or chronic conditions, including:

• ALS [embed URL to new page]
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Cancer
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Coronary artery disease (CAD)
• Dementia
• Heart disease
• Heart failure
• Kidney failure
• Liver disease
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Muscular dystrophy
• Parkinson’s disease
• Stroke

Our Inpatient and Outpatient Palliative Care Services

Our knowledgeable palliative care specialists learn what’s important to you and find ways to meet your physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

Services include:

• Management of symptoms like pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea and difficulty sleeping to improve your quality of life
• Care coordination that ensures all your needs are met
• Disease education and management, so you feel more informed and can potentially avoid repeated hospital and emergency room visits
• Long-term care planning to help your family anticipate your needs and plan future living arrangements
• End-of-life planning, which involves documents like living wills and advance directives to help you carry out your final wishes

If you want to see our team regularly, you can usually meet with the same person for every appointment. This allows us to build a relationship with you.

Why Choose MU Health Care for Palliative Care

• Around-the-clock support for questions and concerns: When you need us, there’s a doctor available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by phone.
• Family-focused care that includes caregivers: Illness can create stress for every member of the family. Our palliative care services help you manage stress, anxiety, burnout, guilt and other concerns.
• Emotional support after loss: Our palliative care team provides bereavement support if you’re coping with a terminal diagnosis or if you are dealing with grief from the loss of a loved one.
• Support groups: To complement our palliative care services, we also offer several support groups in Columbia and Jefferson City. Groups are available for families affected by cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and other conditions.
• Research-driven support: Our experts conduct research on the latest supportive care therapies, which help us better fulfill your needs. With the resources and expertise of an academic medical center, we can offer the most advanced approaches to improve your well-being.