Palliative Care

Grady Palliative and Supportive Care specialists provide an additional layer of support for people who face serious life-threatening diseases, as well as their loved ones.

We work together with our patients’ other clinical teams to optimize the care of our patients and their loved ones. Our mission is to help them live the richest lives possible by managing symptoms, controlling pain, supporting them through emotional and practical stresses, and finding ways to discover and fulfill their spiritual needs.

Each year, we help nearly 2,000 patients optimize their lives while living with serious illness. To that end, our patients are at the center of their treatment decisions.

Grady’s Palliative and Supportive Care program is a highly regarded service at Grady, and is a major participant in the internationally recognized Emory Palliative Care Center, placing us as a top program in the nation. Physicians throughout the hospital increasingly engage our services to support optimal care of patients with life-threatening illnesses.

In order to address the complex needs of our patients with serious illness and their loved ones, our uniquely qualified and highly skilled clinical team consists of physicians, nurse practitioners, a social worker, and a chaplain. Our intensely engaged physicians and nurse practioners assess and intervene in the full range of symptoms and stress of serious illness. Our physicians are all board certified in the medical specialty of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and are highly engaged in academic innovation and training in the field.  Each of our Advanced Practice Registered Nurses has Advanced Practice Certification in Hospice and Palliative Nursing (ACHPN), and they provide education and training within and beyond Grady. Our Licensed Medical Social Worker (LMSW) carries additional Advance Certification in Hospice and Palliative Care (ACHP-SW), and focuses on therapeutic and practical support strategies for our patients and their loved ones. Our highly cherished spiritual health provider is a leader in her field, and a woman of many “firsts.” She is the first chaplain in the state of Georgia to achieve not only Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) status but also the highly specialized Hospice and Palliative Care Advanced Certification (BCC-PCHAC). She is also the only BCC-PCHAC chaplain in the nation to also become a certified clinical educator through the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE).

Grady’s Palliative and Supportive Care team works to ensure that patients facing life-threatening conditions have their pain and symptoms as controlled as possible, and to preserve the opportunity to address essential life decisions. Most of all, we want patients to enjoy their time with loved ones and to be able to do as much as possible for as long as possible.

We do this by partnering with each patient’s treatment team to provide:

• Specialized treatment of pain and other symptoms
• Help to steer through the services and requirements of Grady Health System
• Support and guidance with medical decisions
• Emotional and spiritual support for the patient and loved ones

Learn more about Palliative Care.

Make an Appointment

Call (404) 616-1000, Monday-Friday, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. to schedule your appointment.

If you are an existing Grady patient and have a MyChart account, visit MyChart to request your appointment online.