Where is palliative and end-of-life care offered?
You have several options for where to get palliative and end -of -life care. These include your home, a continuing care home, or a hospice. In some cases, certain types of care are given in a hospital, but this isn't typically where you'd receive ongoing palliative care. Talk to your family and your healthcare team about what's important to you and where you'd be most comfortable. Your choices may change as your illness changes or becomes more severe. You can get palliative and end-of-life care at any time during your illness. Your family and healthcare team can help you decide what's best for you.
Home
Many people choose to stay in their homes to get palliative and end-of-life care from a home and community care program. You may be most comfortable living in a familiar place close to loved ones.
Home and community care programs offer nursing care and other home support services, such as:
- volunteers to provide services (if available in your area)
- community day programs for you
- care to manage your symptoms
- scheduled visits to help with your care needs
- your day-to-day needs, services, or care such as support with transportation, finances, and rehabilitation
For many of these services from the Home and Community Care Program, you can self-refer. That means that you can call them yourself to be assessed for what services or care you might need. You don't need to wait for your doctor or healthcare team to send in this request.
In most areas of Alberta, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has a program to help people who get palliative and end-of-life care get some treatments and care in their homes. They can help with urgent needs any time of day or night. This can help reduce unnecessary hospital admissions. The EMS Assess, Treat, Refer program has EMS teams, home and community care, doctors, and families working together to help people stay in their homes if that's their wish.
If you can no longer comfortably be at home, talk to your healthcare team about other options. To find out more about care options go to:
Home & Community Care | Alberta Health Services.
Continuing care homes
You can get palliative and end-of-life care in a
continuing care home. The type of home you choose depends on:
- the lifestyle you want
- the care you need
- how much you can do for yourself
There are both private and publicly funded continuing care homes in Alberta.
If you're in one of these homes and you need specialized palliative care services, you may need to go to a hospital for a short time until those special needs have been met.
Hospices
Hospices are set up like a home while giving specialized end-of-life care 24 hours a day. The care teams focus on your comfort and quality of life. They can help you and your family cope with your feelings about serious illness. In a hospice, you're cared for by doctors, nurses, care aides, and social workers. Spiritual counsellors and volunteers may also be available, but these services are different for each hospice.
Hospitals
As your care needs or family circumstances change, you may no longer be able to stay at home. Often this is identified when you've been admitted to the hospital. Some hospitals have dedicated palliative and end-of-life care units. Going to this type of unit may be the best decision for you depending on your needs. In a hospital, your care is given by a team of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare team members.
A few hospitals have intensive palliative care units. These are for people with very serious and complex symptoms that need special care to manage them.
Services near you
To find out more about your care options and what types of palliative and end-of-life care services are in your area, go to
Palliative and end-of-life care- Alberta Health Services.
You have many options for palliative and end-of-life care.
