Palliative Care Make an Appointment Refer a Patient Ask a Question Make an Appointment Refer a Patient Ask a Question Palliative care is a type of medicine that focuses on the physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual needs of people who have a serious illness, including cancer, end-stage respiratory disease, and end-stage organ failure. Palliative care relieves suffering, helps improve people's tolerance for curative treatment, eases transitions when curative treatment is no longer an option and improves the quality of life for patients and their families. Palliative care addresses the discomforts caused by symptoms of disease and side-effects of treatment, the goals of care, and the hopes of patients and family members. At National Jewish Health, people with cancer receive palliative care from the time of diagnosis. Palliative care supports people through the rigors of cancer treatment and the experience of survivorship. National Jewish Health patients with other diagnoses receive palliative care at any stage of treatment. Palliative care resources at National Jewish Health include board-certified hospice and palliative care providers, social workers, and clinical dieticians. How Palliative Care Can Help You Palliative care aims to improve your: Physical Comfort: Pain, fatigue, nausea, shortness of breath, constipation and insomnia can decrease your quality of life. Managing these and other symptoms can improve your physical well-being, functional status and ability to continue treatment. Emotional Comfort: Living with a serious illness can be a source of anxiety, frustration, grief, loss and depression. Finding peace of mind can help make the challenges of your disease and its treatment easier to tolerate. Working with a psychiatrist and participating in support groups can offer outlets for emotional support. Social Comfort: Changes in your relationships with family, friends, and colleagues can be a source of distress. Offering support and facilitating conversations with family and friends can relieve some of the isolation and help those important to you understand what is happening to you. Intellectual Comfort: Open discussion about your disease and its treatment can help you gain insight into the meaning of your disease and its role in your life. Spiritual Comfort: Identifying resources in your faith tradition can help provide additional sources of support. Advance Care Planning: Assistance with preparing or updating your advance directive, including identifying your surrogate decision-maker, can give you a sense of control over your disease. Access to Community Resources: Making referrals to outside resources, including home physical and occupational therapy, home palliative care, and hospice services at home or facilities, can expand your treatment team to include resources you may need outside of National Jewish Health. Doctors Amanda Stephens, MD + × Amanda Stephens, MD Amanda Stephens, MD, is a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health. Dr. Stephens is in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Assistant Professor Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine Department of Medicine View Full Profile Make an Appointment Bronwyn Long, DNP, MBA, RN + × Bronwyn Long, DNP, MBA, RN Bronwyn Long, RN, is a nurse at National Jewish Health. Ms. Long is in the Division of Oncology. Division of Oncology Department of Nursing View Full Profile Make an Appointment Find a Doctor Clinical Trials For more than 100 years, National Jewish Health has been committed to finding new treatments and cures for diseases. Search our clinical trials. Reasons to Choose National Jewish Health The leading respiratory hospital in the nation and the only one devoted fully to the treatment of respiratory and related illnesses Ranked as one of the top two hospitals in pulmonology every year since U.S. News & World Report included this category in its annual “Best Hospitals” survey Ranked in the top 1 percent of hospitals in the nation by HCAHPS Physicians consistently recognized among the best in the nation by multiple services, including Best Doctors in America and Castle Connolly Among the top 6 percent of organizations funded for research by the NIH, providing patients access to more than 300 active clinical trials 121-year history of focus on care, research and education serving thousands of patients with lung, heart, immune and related disorders Make an Appointment × Safely Get the Care You Need We are ready to help you stay healthy with many same-day appointments available and are taking every precaution to ensure your safety. To make an appointment, call 303.398.1355 or schedule online today. COVID-19 Testing and Care Swab (PCR) and Antibody testing appointments can be booked online and are available with results in 24-48 hours. If you are experiencing symptoms, we have same-day appointments in our adult and pediatric COVID-19 treatment clinics in dedicated areas. We also offer care for those who have had COVID-19 in our Center for Post-COVID-19 Care and Recovery. Learn more about our specialized COVID-19 care. Vaccine Information The vaccine has arrived and we are working through Colorado’s state-guided phases of vaccination. Visit our COVID-19 Vaccines page for more information on timing and availability. Close
Reasons to Choose National Jewish Health The leading respiratory hospital in the nation and the only one devoted fully to the treatment of respiratory and related illnesses Ranked as one of the top two hospitals in pulmonology every year since U.S. News & World Report included this category in its annual “Best Hospitals” survey Ranked in the top 1 percent of hospitals in the nation by HCAHPS Physicians consistently recognized among the best in the nation by multiple services, including Best Doctors in America and Castle Connolly Among the top 6 percent of organizations funded for research by the NIH, providing patients access to more than 300 active clinical trials 121-year history of focus on care, research and education serving thousands of patients with lung, heart, immune and related disorders Make an Appointment