The Palliative Care Program at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital recently became one of only five palliative care programs in the state to be certified by the Joint Commission, hospital officials said.

Established in 2012, the program is designed to help improve the quality of life of patients living with serious illness through pain and symptom management, education and support.

“Although there’s 600 to 700 hospitals with palliative care nationally, very few are actually certified,” said Lisa Frost, palliative care program manager. “It’s just validating what we’ve built and what we’ve been doing for patients.”

Comprised of seven Henry Mayo healthcare professionals, program staff work with 50 to 60 patients at the hospital per month.

“(Palliative care) gets patients the extra support that they need to help with not only pain and symptom management, but communication,” Frost said. “When you come into the hospital setting, you have so many different people directing your care and different physicians, and we’re sort of the bridge between it all.”

Related: Preparing For The Cold And Flu Season In Santa Clarita

The program is not hospice, Frost clarified, adding that some patients receive palliative care for a certain period of time while they receive curative treatments.

“One of the important pieces of palliative care is that we are an interdisciplinary, or interprofessional, team,” she said. “So we have nurses, physicians, social workers for the psychosocial piece and chaplains for the spiritual aspect of a person’s illness. So each of us have certain roles in providing care to the patient and their families.”

To receive the coveted certification, the palliative care team at Henry Mayo met certain standards dictated by the Joint Commission, becoming the fifth certified Palliative Care Program in the state of California and the 89th nationally.

Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital is a 238-bed, not-for-profit community hospital and trauma center in Santa Clarita. The Henry Mayo Hospital emergency department is open 24-7 to provide critical life-saving services, with a panel of physicians available around the clock for critical healthcare needs. In addition, a number of specialized care services are also available, including a maternity department, community hospital cancer program, advanced primary stroke center, spine and joint program, acute rehab unit, cardiology services, outpatient wound care, physical and occupational therapies and a wide range of surgical services.

Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital

23845 McBean Parkway

Valencia, CA 91355

661-253-8000