How palliative care helped my father

Palliative Care to many sounds ominous and foreboding.  But as a practicing physician in Healdsburg for 38 years and caring for many elderly people, I see its value. Its main goal is quality of life, and defining patient’s wishes and seeing that they are followed.
And I have a personal story to relate to show how it can be helpful. My father was 100 years old and of sound mind. Yet his instructions at the Assisted Living Facility where he and my mother lived south of Tucson said he was a “Full Code.” He had a bad heart and every now and then he complained of being short of breath, and would be taken to the hospital for several days 20 miles away from my mother. This was happening every six weeks or so. Finally I called the cardiologist caring for him and asked the question: “Does it help him in any way for him to go to the hospital every six weeks?” The cardiologist did not hesitate in saying: “No it does not help him.”
But the paperwork at his Assisted Living facility instructed them to send him to the hospital if he became short of breath.  
So I had the difficult task of helping my father change his paperwork. It was very hard on me, as you might imagine, to tell my father that CPR would break his ribs, be very unsettling for his wife, my mother, and at that age would be very unlikely to save his life. And I had to do this by phone, as I was unable to visit him. I cried afterward. But I knew this is what he wanted because, in his file cabinet, he had documents filled out years before, saying no to CPR, no to transport to hospital if it was unlikely to be beneficial. It was just that the Assisted Living Facility had different forms, and was not aware of the forms he had in his filing cabinet. I knew of them because he and I had discussed several times his wishes for how he wanted to live and he told me where the paperwork was.
As a result of my difficult phone call, papers were changed and he was placed in a Palliative Care category, and the rest of his life was much more comfortable for him. He never went back to the hospital, never left my mother at home alone, had medicine to help him when he became short of breath, and in general he was much happier. I was able to visit him and indeed he did look better and happier.
I am so glad that he and I had discussed his wishes, so glad that Palliative Care was available and helpful for him, so glad that the rest of his life was more comfortable.
I’m writing this to encourage you to attend a Palliative Care community forum being produced by the Healthcare Foundation and our partners. It is Monday, June 24, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at The Shed, 25 North St. in Healdsburg. Two fascinating speakers will explain how Palliative Care can improve quality of Life for you and your loved ones:
— Gary Johanson, M.D., Medical Director of Palliative Care & Services & memorial Hospice at St. Joseph Health, Sonoma County
— Judy MacDonald Johnston develops children’s reading programs with Blue Lake Publishing, by day. By night, she helps others maintain quality of living as they near the end of their life.  
Go to www.healthcarefoundation.net for more information.
Dr. David Anderson is a retired physician and a Healdsburg resident.