UnityPoint Health - Blank Childrens Palliative Care

Palliative Care - SHINE Program

Blank Children's Palliative Care - SHINE Program (Sharing, Healing, Inspiring, Nurturing, Enduring), a hospital outpatient department of UnityPoint Health – Des Moines – Iowa Methodist Medical Center, provides perinatal and pediatric palliative care services in Des Moines and the surrounding area.

Palliative care is a special kind of health care. It can be provided at any stage of a serious illness and alongside curative treatment plans. The SHINE Program is able to offer care to patients and families in the hospital and at their homes. Palliative care recognizes that everyone in the family is affected when one member is ill. This care aims to improve the quality of life in physical, psychological (mental), social, emotional and spiritual ways.

Perinatal Palliative Care focuses on families whose unborn baby has received a complex diagnosis. The SHINE team provides an additional layer of support to these families through their pregnancy, birth and beyond.

Pediatric Palliative Care focuses on children and their families living with complex chronic medical conditions.

Services:

• Symptom management
• Psychological, emotional and spiritual support
• Anticipatory grief support
• Legacy/Memory making
• Assistance with patient, family and staff communication
• Advance care planning
• Birth and journey planning
• Coordination of care
• Inpatient and outpatient services
• Bereavement follow-up

A provider's order is required for a visit from the SHINE team. Please ask your provider for more information.