Life’s Journey: Choices in Care

Is chronic illness a part of your life? If so, you have choices in your symptom management.

• Do you (or a family member) have one or more chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, lung disease or cancer?
• Do you have persistent symptoms associated with your illness that disrupt your day and prevent you from living the quality of life you desire?
• Are you frequently calling your doctor or making trips to the hospital because of your chronic illness?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may benefit from Life’s Journey, offered by Community Health Network and The Indiana Heart Hospital.

Whether you’re 25 or 95, dealing with a debilitating, chronic disease is challenging and may prevent you from getting the most out of each day and ultimately, decreasing your quality of life. Now, through a unique program, improved coordination of your care and better management of your symptoms is possible.

Taking Life's Journey: Chronic disease management from a patient's perspective

With the help of Life's Journey, Joe Hall has spent much less time in the hospital. "This is just a miracle," says his wife, Elaine, an inpatient coder at Community South.

"We were frequent fliers at the hospital," says Elaine Hall. Between March 2005 and May 2006, her husband, Joe, was an inpatient seven times and was in rehabilitation programs twice. He also visited the emergency room twice for treatment.

Download the full story of Joe and Elaine's journey >>

Providing choices in care

If you or someone you love is dealing with one or more illnesses and has difficulty managing the symptoms, pain and discomfort associated with such illnesses, it’s likely there are frequent doctor visits, trips to the ER or routine hospital admissions. Often, this creates a health care maze that is confusing, stressful and hard to follow.  This is where the Life’s Journey program can make a meaningful difference in how an illness is managed, so that you can get back to focusing on what’s important to you like time with your family or time spent on activities you enjoy.

Life’s Journey: Choices in Care is a support-based program intended for people facing complex symptoms, pain, psychological and spiritual issues. By partnering with your doctors and health care team, the Life’s Journey program can do many things, including:

• Support you in managing pain, symptoms, spiritual and social needs.
• Support you in making decisions about your care.
• Provide comfort for you and your family as you journey through life with your chronic disease.
• Coordinate communication between you, your doctors and other health care team members.
• Enhance your overall quality of life and satisfaction with your care.

Participating in Life’s Journey

If you or someone you know could benefit from the Life’s Journey program, speak to your physician. The program is referral based.

The Life’s Journey team, which will help with the coordination of your care, is led by Monica Brunelle, M.D.  Dr. Brunelle and her team are certified specialists in symptom management.

The Life’s Journey team will provide an experience that supports participants and their families as they journey in life with a chronic disease.

“We want to stress,” notes Dr. Brunelle, “that this program was developed specifically for the individual with serious, chronic illnesses and or multiple conditions. Our goal is to help enhance the quality of life for these patients. Since the program began, the positive response from participating doctors and patients has been overwhelming.”

The program is the most comprehensive of its kind in Indiana. “We desire for you to experience increased comfort and satisfaction with the care provided to you,” says Dr. Brunelle.

To participate in the Life’s Journey program, you must be referred by your doctor. For more information, call 800-777-7775.