Laura Joans joins Heritage Hospice Palliative Care

April 14, 2021 | by mbaker

Heritage Hospice, Inc. is pleased to welcome Laura Joans, APRN-C to the Heritage Palliative Care Services. Joans joins the program with over 40 years of nursing experience. With a background as an ICU nurse, and a hospice nurse, Joans is an asset to Heritage’s Palliative Care Services team. Her passion for palliative care emerged during her time working as an ICU nurse and then caring for nephrology patients. She saw many patients that did not flourish in the hospital — some died on ventilators and some were discharged to nursing homes with a very limited quality of life. “At some point,” Joans said. “I began to question whether what we put some patients through, knowing that they were not going to survive their hospitalization or that they were not going to do well over the long term, if it was worth it.”

Palliative care provides a different approach. Focused on providing comprehensive treatment of pain and symptom management, palliative care aims to provide relief. Joans will be teaming up with Delanna Clark, DNP, APRN, ACCNS-AG at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center as part of Heritage’s Palliative Care Services team. “I really enjoy the challenge of palliative care — especially in the hospital setting,” Joans said. “While it is tough to tell patients and families difficult news, I find that they ultimately appreciate frankness and understanding of what is really going on ‘in the big picture.’”