Lower Cape Fear LifeCare has opened the first free-standing palliative medicine clinic in southeastern North Carolina.
The LifeCare Center for Palliative Medicine will provide outpatient palliative care to patients experiencing serious illness. The clinic will serve patients from the Novant Health system, including its Zimmer Cancer Institute and physician clinics. It will also accept referrals from other physicians in the community.
“As oncologists, we work hand in hand with our palliative care colleagues who provide expertise on pain and symptom management and add an extra layer of support for people living with cancer,” Dr. Lindsey Buckingham, a gynecologic oncologist with Novant Health Zimmer Cancer Institute, said in a statement. “Both patients and families benefit from the involvement of both oncology and palliative care.”
Lower Cape Fear LifeCare has been providing palliative medicine in various settings to people in North Carolina for more than 30 years. The company is the longest operating nonprofit hospice care provider in southeastern North Carolina and the second largest hospice provider in the state.
Patients should have access to a palliative care provider early following a diagnosis of a serious illness, according to stakeholders. The recommendation from the American Society of Clinical Oncology is that outpatient palliative care is offered within the first eight weeks following a cancer diagnosis. This allows patients and their providers to build a rapport that can last throughout the illness — especially when the patient’s prognosis changes.
“We’re proud and delighted to offer our community the first free-standing palliative medicine clinic in southeastern North Carolina,” Gwen Whitley, president and CEO said in a statement. “This is truly a significant step in providing life impacting care to people and families living with serious illnesses … We look forward to providing palliative medicine in the clinic as well as appointments through telehealth, in private homes, assisted and skilled nursing facilities, and by continuing our in-patient palliative care partnerships with regional hospitals.”
