Pathway Hospice is constantly exploring the needs of our diverse community. Through education and community outreach we keep ourselves apprised of the varying needs of our patients while investing in the development of programs to ensure the most positive outcomes for our patients and their families.
Pathway Hospice offers:
- Development of advance directives and end-of-life planning
- Assistance to create an environment in which family and friends can reminisce and spend time together
- Clinical assessment and intervention
- Medication and symptom management
- Life review and legacy work
- Emotional support and spiritual counseling
- Personal Care
- Volunteer support
- Provision of medications, supplies, and durable medical equipment
- Bereavement support for the family for up to 13 months
Pathway’s Palliative Bridges program is for those patients with chronic illnesses whom are still seeking curative and/or aggressive treatments.
- Palliative Bridges is a patient-driven program and the Palliative Bridges Coordinator (a medical social worker) will meet with the patient wherever the patient resides
- Patient may be pursuing aggressive treatment while on Palliative Bridges
- Palliative Bridges is ideal for patients who may not be emotionally ready for hospice
- Palliative Bridges is also for those patients who do not yet qualify for hospice
- Palliative Bridges is offered at no charge to patients and their families
Services Available on Palliative Bridges:
Service Area: North Texas
- Assistance with completing relevant applications, if patient qualifies for programs — Medicaid, Medicare, VA benefits, Extra Help, Medicare Savings Program, SNAP, etc.
- Apply for caregiver assistance with activities for daily living through referral to Department of Aging Disability Services (DADS), if appropriate
- Link to LiteUp (electric/phone discount), sync meds, home delivery of medications, Life Alert button or Med Minder (pill dispenser), Prescription eye glass assistance, dental/oral needs, charity applications for hospital bills, and student loan discharge
- Apply for home modifications (wheelchair ramp/grab bars). Assistance with creating a stronger family/community support system.
- Coordination with physician to advocate for Durable Medical Equipment
- Advance Directives – including Out of Hospital, Do Not Resuscitate, Medical Power of Attorney, Durable Power of Attorney, or Living Will
- Link to community resources such as Meals on Wheels, Easter Seals, and other community resource connection needs
- Assists in completion of FMLA documents, Furloughs for Armed Forces/Active Duty Military Personnel
- Emotional and therapeutic support to patient and family
Referral: Physician order/signature is not required for a referral to Palliative Bridges.
Please send referral to Central Intake/Referral Line, Fax: (214) 292.9604 / Office: (214) 377.9377
Attn: Palliative Bridges Information requested on referral: Patient name, diagnosis and prognosis (if known), DOB, address, phone number and referral source.
Palliative Bridges Coordinator: Keisher Carter, LMSW, Mobile (972) 815.7344
Cultural Liaison Initiative
Pathway’s Cultural Liaison Initiative began as an outreach to the Hispanic community and is growing into an outreach program dedicated to the entire multicultural community. Cultural Liaisons provide a deeper understanding of the perspectives and needs of hospice patients by following a family from the first Hospice Education Consultation until the end of the Bereavement Period.
They are not just “translators,” but something far more holistic.
Cultural Liaisons ensure that our Interdisciplinary Team understands the impact of culture on our patients’ care. The Liaison provides a touchpoint for the family 24 hours a day, from the first introduction until they are ready to transition from our services.
Desired Outcomes for the Cultural Liaison Program include:
- Individualized, culturally-sensitive care for our patients and families throughout the end-of-life journey
- Optimized communication with families, designed to identify and meet ongoing needs from their unique perspectives
- An accessible, dedicated point-of-contact with true fluency in the patient’s native language and culture
- Reduced hospitalizations, improved symptom management, and better outcomes for patients and families
LGBT Hospice Care Initiative
At Pathway Hospice, we are developing a program to address the needs and concerns of the LGBT community and want to be known as an LGBT-affirming service provider. Our team of medical directors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, home health aids, liaisons, administrative staff, and volunteers will be provided training to familiarize and educate themselves regarding LGBT issues in order to provide the entire North Texas community with competent and respectful care. We are strategizing with SAGE (Support and Advocacy for LGBT Elders) and their training program.
Jewish Cultural Liasion
As part of our multicultural outreach program, Cantor Don Alan Croll has joined our staff to better serve our Jewish community.
A cantor in the Reform Jewish movement is a clergy member who fills a diverse role within the Jewish community. Cantors lead worship, officiate at lifecycle events, teach adults and children, run synagogue music programs, and offer pastoral care. Cantors typically serve along with other clergy members, usually rabbis and occasionally additional cantors, in partnership to lead synagogue communities.
The Reform cantor is a professional office with a prescribed educational path and professional organization. Cantors are ordained at the conclusion of study which confers the status of clergy as it does for rabbis.
The education required to become an ordained cantor is a masters degree in Sacred Music, a five-year course of study that requires one year in Jerusalem and one in New York. Cantor Croll is the cantor emeritus of Temple Shalom in Dallas and has been a member of the American Conference of Cantors for over 40 years. He has also served congregations in New York, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque.