24-7 support, seven days a week - What a caregiver can expect when their loved one receives Carelon palliative care
When a family member first enters palliative care, the experience with their illness can be a frightening time for not only the patient, but also for the caregiver. Caregivers often face emotional stress, physical fatigue, and financial burdens. They may struggle with a lack of knowledge, decision-making pressure, social isolation, and navigating complex healthcare systems. They face having to coordinate care, balance multiple roles, and potentially cope with their loved one’s declining health.
How Carelon’s palliative care program operates
Carelon’s palliative care focuses on providing patients relief from the physical, emotional, and psychological burdens associated with serious illnesses. Patients receive treatment from a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals including physicians, advanced practice providers (APPs), and social workers, all of whom collaborate to create a comprehensive and personalized care plan. Patients can expect Carelon’s team to build a treatment plan around a compassionate and comprehensive approach to managing their symptoms and improving their quality of life.
“The point of palliative care is to help mitigate a patient’s suffering as they navigate complex and terminal illnesses,” says Abhisheck Kumar, MD, Palliative Care, Carelon. “The plan not only addresses pain and symptom control but also supports the patient’s and family’s emotional well-being. Through regular communication and a coordinated effort, caregivers and their loved ones can expect a supportive environment that prioritizes dignity, comfort, and comprehensive care during this challenging time.”
Carelon also focuses on the caregiver’s needs throughout the patient’s palliative care treatment
“The palliative care experience affects everyone around the patient. In addition to supporting the patient, we support family members and caregivers, because it’s not just about the patient’s issues alone, it’s about the caregivers’ needs as well,” explains Dr. Kumar. “Caregivers frequently experience anxiety and depression, which can sometimes manifest physically. Caregivers tend to neglect their own health.”
He points out that by directly mitigating the patient’s suffering, Carelon helps the caregiver. “Our treatment plans, the way in which we streamline their loved one’s medication regimens, that all helps to give the caregivers peace of mind. We help caregivers understand the specifics of the treatments, and the potential cures. We help them navigate difficult conversations when their loved one’s treatment may not yield the results we hope for.”
How Carelon tailors palliative care plans to meet caregivers needs
Dr. Kumar emphasizes that every case is different. “We learn the caregivers’ goals; their hopes and dreams. We also help the caregiver to understand what the patient is going through, explain to them why the patient is acting the way they are, which helps to put the caregiver at ease,” he says. “Caregivers can experience hopelessness. We, as advanced practice providers (APPs), along with the social work team, validate the caregivers’ feelings and experiences.”
He shares a specific case. “We were treating a gentleman who was experiencing metastatic prostate cancer, and his wife was his caregiver. He had been undergoing treatment for two years. We took the time to learn how his wife was feeling and coping, what her goals were, what was she hoping to see, and her fears.”
The effort helped her cope, because until Carelon had begun treating her husband, no one had asked her how she was doing. “The wife shared that she felt like she was bearing the burden, not knowing how long her husband’s illness was going to sustain. She was very appreciative, and this broke down the barriers for her. We then had the social worker reach out to her directly.”
How often caregivers interact with the Carelon care team
While the frequency of the interactions between the care team and caregiver depends on the specific case, caregivers can call in at any time for advice. “One of our biggest differentiators is our 24/7 service,” says Dr. Kumar. “Whenever the patient or caregiver has questions, they can always reach a covering nurse or clinician to help. We are there to support. Caregivers can contact us any time of day with any question or concern, whether the loved one may need to go get assessed, or they need us to come to them. Emergencies never come at an opportune time.”
It is also up to the caregiver as to how often they interact with the care team. “Our APPs have very good relationships with caregivers. Some families prefer to be more hands on, while others are more hands off. Either way is fine, as we want to respect patient’s and family’s autonomy. That said, the more a caregiver communicates with us, the better, as they can provide us details on the patient that we might not otherwise have, such as changes in sleep, appetite, or mood. Providing those details makes for a great collaboration.”
How Carelon’s palliative care program educates caregivers
Educating caregivers on their available resources is linked to positive outcomes. In one study, a palliative care education initiative increased caregivers' knowledge on cancer and palliative care from 1.3% to 40.6%, in turn boosting their mental health from 32.9% to 72.3% .
Educational resources include support groups for families of loved ones experiencing dementia, cancer, or congestive heart failure. “If a caregiver is having issues coping, we want to provide information on these groups and support circles as soon as we can. Our staff is also trained to help caregivers learn how to seek help, and the type of assistance that is available,” says Dr. Kumar.
He adds that one significant resource is financial assistance. “Our team helps the family research whether they may qualify for financial assistance.”
Carelon addressing the common challenges caregivers face
“As somebody who has been a caregiver and worked with caregivers extensively, the biggest obstacle a caregiver faces is silence, when they shut down,” says Dr. Kumar. “Caregivers sometimes don’t want to be the person who complains, when a loved one is going through their struggles. The caregiver feels guilty and ashamed, but they need affirmation that they are a person as well, and their feelings are okay.”
Caregivers have a connection to the patient and an investment in them, which takes a toll. “Not only is the caregiver taking on the burden and stress of caregiving, but they’re also seeing the decline in their loved one, along with the changes and unwelcome news. This affects them, so they shouldn’t keep those feelings in, because those feelings can fester and turn into anger and resentment,” he adds. “Whether caregivers need to hire additional help, or tap into a family member, they need to get support so that they can continue with their own life.”
Carelon considers the caregiver an integral part of the palliative care team
Carelon believes caregivers make a significant impact on the loved one’s life when they are part of the care team, adding tremendous value when making care decisions, setting expectations, and when things take a different path for the loved one.
“We prevent medical silos at Carelon. We facilitate collaboration, and believe we expand beyond medicine by collaborating with caregivers and treating them like part of our care team. It makes for the best medicine,” says Dr. Kumar. “Being a caregiver is an ongoing challenge. Hats off to them.”
