Joliet hospice cares for non-hospice patients with chronic illness

A Joliet hospice provides more than just hospice care

Lightways Hospice and Serious Illness Care in Joliet – formerly known as Joliet Area Community Hospice – also has a serious illness care program for people with advanced, chronic or life-limiting illnesses.

Lisa Heiy, director of Lightways’ serious illness care, said the independent nonprofit renamed its palliative care program to serious illness care at the time of its rebranding in 2021 to clearly describe the program and its services.

“Not many people really understood the term ‘palliative care’,” Heiy said. “It’s basically symptom management. If we have a patient diagnosed with cancer, we don’t treat the cancer. We treat the symptoms.”

Heiy said Lightways had 1,037 adults in its serious illness care program in 2023. Medicare and most insurance companies cover serious illness care through Lightways, according to the Lightways website.

Lightways cares for patients with a variety of serious illnesses. These include cancer, cardiac diseases — such as congestive heart failure — chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), dementia, end-stage renal disease, liver disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and HIV/AIDS, according to Heiy and the Lightways website.

“A lot of times people without palliative care have an increase rate of hospitalizations because you don’t have that extra layer of support or someone to call and check on you in the home.”

—  Lisa Heiy, director the serious illness care program at Lightways Hospice and Serious Illness Care in Joliet

Services may include cancer-related pain, symptom management, understanding goals of care and medication choices, care coordination, treatment goals and even support for family members, Heiy said.

“Obviously, when symptoms are managed, you’re capable of doing your average daily activities, such as grocery shopping,” Heiy said. “It improves the quality of life for patients, and it improves the quality of life for the families and caregivers — because the resources are there to help them when they have questions or just help them navigate their understanding of the disease.”

Nicole Hartley, lead nurse practitioner for Lightways’ serious illness care, said patients who enter the hospice program are expected to live six months or less. Patients in the serious illness program are often still receiving treatment from health care specialists and primary care physicians and want the extra support, Hartley said.

Serious illness care improves quality of life

For instance, heart failure patients have a remote operating system delivered to their home to monitor vital signs, weight gain and symptoms, Hartley said. If changes are noted, the nurse practitioner can address it and “help keep patients out of the hospital,” Hartley said.

“A lot of times people without palliative care have an increase rate of hospitalizations because you don’t have that extra layer of support or someone to call and check on you in the home,” Hartley said.

Cancer patients whose chemotherapy-related nausea and diarrhea are managed may better tolerate their cancer treatments, Hartley said.

“We keep the oncologist up-to-date on anything we’re noticing anything, as well,” Hartley said.

Lightways’ nurse practitioners typically have a lighter case load is lighter than a nurse practitioner working in a doctor’s office, Hartley said.

“We just have more time to spend individually with each patient,” Hartley said.

Typically patients’ health care providers make the referral to Lightways, Hartley said. Sometimes patients make the initial call to Lightways and then their doctors send the referrals, Hartley said.

Nurse practitioners at the serious illness program work in conjunction with the patient’s specialists and primary care physician, Hartley said. Lightways nurse practitioners see patients at their residence at least monthly – more often if needed or bi-monthly or even quarterly if the patient is doing well, Heiy said.

The residence may be the patient’s home, assisted living facility or nursing home, according to the Lightways website.

But what if the need is after hours?

“We are available by phone around-the-clock,” Hartley said, adding that patients are not billed for phone calls.

Lightways’ social workers also make sure the family has any additional services it might need, such as Meals on Wheels, Hartley said.

Lightways Hospice and Serious Illness Care is licensed in 11 counties in Illinois, according to the Lightways website.

For more information, call 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 815-740-4104 or visit lightways.org.