Transitions LifeCare Receives $25,000 Grant from UNC REX Healthcare
Transitions LifeCare has received a $25,000, one-year grant from UNC REX Healthcare to extend home-based palliative care to patients with advanced heart failure in Wake County. Transitions LifeCare has been an innovator in the delivery of hospital- and community-based palliative care since 2005; The REX Heart Failure Clinic has improved the lifespan and quality of life of advanced heart failure patients since 2016. The two-year partnership between the two entities has resulted in a decreased rate of hospitalizations and hospital lengths of stay, as well as increased utilization of critical services in the home by a high-need, vulnerable population.
Transitions LifeCare has received a $25,000 Community Impact Grant from UNC REX Healthcare to extend home-based palliative care to patients with advanced heart failure in Wake and surrounding areas.
Transitions LifeCare’s CEO John Thoma knows patients with heart failure historically underutilize palliative care services, despite substantive evidence of the value of palliative care to support quality of life. “This grant will allow us to continue to work with the REX Heart Failure Clinic to provide both in-person and telehealth support, as well as nursing and social work to support patients with advanced heart failure and their families.
“We are grateful to UNC REX Healthcare for this grant that we know, from past experience, will enable us to meet the medical and social support needs of a most vulnerable segment of our population: those with heart failure who often have additional diagnoses and a high risk for hospitalization.”
Dr. Elizabeth Volz, assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at UNC’s School of Medicine, adds, “The Transitions program helps us to extend our traditional heart failure care to the home, in assisting with disease and symptom management, furthering discussions regarding goals of care and end-of-life decisions, and in providing patients and families access to other valuable resources.”
About UNC REX Healthcare
For 125 years, UNC REX Healthcare has provided expert care for the Wake County community and surrounding areas. With more than 7,000 co-workers, UNC REX is a private, not-for-profit health care system and is a member of UNC Health Care. UNC REX provides various health care services throughout Wake County with facilities in Apex, Cary, Garner, Holly Springs, Knightdale, Wakefield and downtown Raleigh. To learn more, click here. For more information, contact Alan Wolf at 919-784-4467 or alan.wolf@unchealth.unc.edu.
About Transitions LifeCare
Transitions LifeCare was founded as Hospice of Wake County in 1979. Providing physical, emotional, and spiritual care to those living with an advanced illness, their caregivers, and those who have lost a loved one regardless of age, race, religion, or financial circumstances, we are guided by community-based boards of directors and supported by a dedicated professional staff that provides compassionate care that allows patients to enjoy every moment of their lives to the fullest.