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Podcast: The Valley Today
Episode: Community Health: Advance Care Planning
Description: As part of our community health partnership with Valley Health, we talked with Dr. Jim VanKirk, a board-certified palliative care specialist and Medical Director of Valley Health's palliative care program. Dr. VanKirk explained the role of palliative medicine, which is to work with patients with serious (possibly life-threatening) illnesses and help alleviate burdensome symptoms, while the patient is still pursuing aggressive treatments. He clarified that hospice care is a later stage of palliative medicine, often when the patient stops further life-prolonging therapies and focuses on comfort. Dr. Jeff Harris joined Dr. VanKirk to talk about advance care...