ROCKPORT — Pen Bay Medical Center has expanded its Palliative Care program after completing a two-year pilot project funded by a Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Foundation quality improvement grant.

The grant allowed the program to grow from a hospital-based service to one that provides care to patients wherever needed, added care team members and create education opportunities for providers, in order to establish a community-based component.

The expanded Palliative Care team now includes Marjorie Zyirek-Bacon, MD, board-certified palliative care physician; specially trained nurse practitioners Karin McDonald, MSN, FNP-C, and Alana Rose, FNP; Kim Danforth, MSW, LMSW-cc; and Brooke Simmons, medical assistant.

The PBMC and Waldo County General Hospital (WCGH) Palliative Care programs provide specialized medical care for people at any age living with serious life-limiting illnesses at any stage, and can be provided alongside curative treatment. The Palliative Care teams work together with a patient’s other doctors to deliver an extra layer of support to focus on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness, and improving the quality of life for the patient and family. 

This complementary care also helps patients and families better manage complex symptoms before they become worse, supports increased well-being, helps to avoid unnecessary hospital visits and provides patient-centered and better coordinated plan of care aligned with patient and family wishes.

To learn more about Palliative Care at PBMC, call 301-3090 or visit pbmc.org.

Pen Bay Medical Center

Pen Bay Medical Center is part of MaineHealth, a not-for-profit integrated health system consisting of nine local hospital systems, a comprehensive behavioral healthcare network, diagnostic services, home health agencies, and more than 1,600 employed and independent physicians working together through an Accountable Care Organization. With more than 19,000 employees, MaineHealth is the largest health system in northern New England and provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. For more information, please visit pbmc.org.