Hospitalized several times for low ejection heart failure, the 71-year-old Broward resident wanted to spend his final days at home with his wife and two dogs. Thanks to the VITAS Healthcare Cardiac Program, he was able to do just that.
The VITAS interdisciplinary team of caregivers, including cardiologists, physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and chaplains, worked closely with the patient’s long-standing cardiac team to continue his ongoing treatments of dobutamine and ensure he received the quality, customized attention he needed at the end of life. After he passed away several weeks later, his wife selected VITAS’ bereavement support services and expressed her gratitude to the team for ensuring her husband’s final days were spent in peace, alongside his 
loved ones, in the place he called “home.”
loved ones, in the place he called “home.”Indeed, the care of patients with advanced heart disease is a top priority for VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s largest provider of end-of-life care. Its interdisciplinary approach, coupled with patient and family centered care, benefits patients and families as well as providers, hospitals, health systems and the community. The company supports state-of-the-art cardiac care for normal and low ejection heart failure patients including those needing inotropic and circulatory (left ventricular assist device) support.
VITAS has invested substantial resources to develop a cardiac program where staff completes hours of heart failure specific education and competency attainment. As part of its innovative model, patients benefit from evidence-based cardiac care including therapies traditionally administered in the hospital setting at home such as parenteral diuretics, high-flow oxygen, and continuous infusions of dobutamine or milrinone. Patients and families also continue to receive its trademark end-of-life care with individualized care plans that address patients’ physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs. Moreover, alternative therapies such as massage, pet and music further enhance a patient’s quality of life.
Taken together, the cardiac program at VITAS reflects the company’s core values that patients and families come first, which translates into better care and outcomes including higher patient and family satisfaction, improved quality of life, and a dramatic reduction in hospital readmissions.
