Mobile Palliative Care Homeless Outreach Program

By Madeline White | Categories: | Comments Off on Mobile Palliative Care Homeless Outreach Program

Harborview Medical Center joined with the Seattle/King County Health Care for the Homeless Network to pilot the Mobile Palliative Care Homeless Outreach Program beginning in 2014, to address the needs of homeless people with life-limiting illnesses. The program’s primary goals are: 1) provide end-of-life care and pain management to a population that is poorly served by traditional palliative care programs; 2) empower people who are homeless by giving them more control to make decisions about life management and dying as their illness progresses; 3) prevent unnecessary emergency department visits and prolonged hospital admissions; and 4) eliminate barriers to accessing healthcare by traveling to patients and meeting them on the streets, in shelters, at meal programs or wherever they are living.