Chronic illnesses are medical conditions that are persistent or develop slowly over time which can cause long-term changes in the body. Some examples of chronic illnesses are cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's, HIV, and diseases of the heart, kidney, lung and liver. This includes congestive heart failure, COPD, renal failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and any end-stage disease.

Sometimes a chronic illness advances to something more serious and a patient may require the expertise of trained medical personnel who specialize in palliative care. Palliative care, also called comfort care, is any form of medical care or treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of disease symptoms. It focuses on the pain, symptom and stress of serious illness. Palliative care may be provided at any time during a chronic illness and may be given at the same time as curative treatment.

AIM Palliative Home Health is the first palliative care service of its kind in Louisiana to provide both active treatment and comfort care by trained medical personnel (nurses and nurses' aides) for patients with advanced, chronic illness. Palliative care is all we do! Patients do not have to make the immediate decision to abandon treatment in order to receive trained comfort care. Whether a patient is receiving chemotherapy or radiation for cancer, dialysis for advanced kidney disease, aggressive treatment for advanced heart disease, or simply needing time to decide what to do, the AIM Team is there - advanced care for advanced-stage illness.