Highland Brings Palliative Care to the Southern Tier

Highland’s Palliative Care Division Chief Chin-Lin Ching, M.D., and Nicole Gise, M.D., Director of Highland’s Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic, and their team are now working with providers at Jones Memorial in Wellsville, St. James in Hornell, and Noyes in Dansville to offer palliative care services to patients. The Highland Hospital team assists with complex symptom management, goals of care discussions, and difficult medical decision making. They also provide inpatient consultations via telemedicine and are available for outpatient referrals.

The service is made possible by a grant awarded through the New York State Safety Net and Program Support Office for “Implementation of a Southern Tier Regional Palliative Care Program.”

The program is being well received by providers. “In the past patients who needed palliative care services were transferred to Highland. And if the decision was then made to transition to end of life care, it became an emotional and financial burden for families who wanted to be with them,” said Dr. Ching. “Now patients can stay at hospitals near their homes, and we can offer inpatient consults for providers by telemedicine and outpatient referrals as well.” In addition, a lecture series is being offered by Zoom for physicians and other health care providers.

Nancy Scott, Palliative Care Coordinator at Jones Memorial Hospital, serves all three southern tier hospitals, identifying and implementing training resources specific for the facility’s health care team.  In her role, Nancy will be coordinating with regional providers and their hospitals to bring this new specialty onboard. She will also distribute Palliative Care materials to local agencies to assist with educating the community in the role of Palliative Care.

Providers with questions regarding Palliative Care can contact Nancy at 585-596-4079 or by email: Nancy_Scott@URMC.Rochester.edu.

 For additional information and information about CME credits please contact:
Nancy Scott Nancy_Scott@urmc.rochester.edu  585-596-4079

2/17/2023