How We Can Help You

At Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, our goal is to make your care as comfortable and easy as possible. We offer a variety of services such as support groups, patient rights advocates, social workers and other resources to help you and your family.

Our support services include:

Chaplaincy — Our chaplains offer spiritual and emotional support for patients and families.

Interpreter services — We can provide you with an interpreter who understands your language and culture.

Palliative Care services — We offer palliative care options for those with advanced, life-threatening or serious chronic illness to relieve suffering, provide support, and improve the quality of life for patients and their loved ones.

Patient and Family Advisory Council — You can apply to be a member of our Patient and Family Advisory Council to promote and address the needs of patients and families.

Patient rights advocates — We can provide a patient advocate to help you resolve a concern about your care.

Social Work — Our social workers collaborate with our health team to offer emotional support and connect you to resources.

The Patient and Family Advisory Council advises Lahey Hospital & Medical Center on the relationship between patients, patients’ families, and Lahey staff. Council members  work together to promote and advise on processes and programs that address the needs of patients and families. Patients and family members have a principal role in determining projects.

The goals of the Patient and Family Advisory Council include:

  1. To promote the principles of patient-provider partnership and patient/family centered care at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center
  2. To provide and communicate the unique perspective of the patient and family to the clinical and administrative leaders and staff at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center
  3. To provide advice, consultation, evaluation and recommendations regarding programs, educational efforts, selected research activities and operational initiatives that affect patients and families at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center

The Patient and Family Advisory Council meets at least four times per year. Patients and/or family members who are interested in more information about this council or who are interested in applying for membership should call 781-744-3857.

You have the right to choose someone to make health care decisions for you, called a health care agent, in case you cannot do so yourself (for example, because of a serious injury). One way to select your health care agent is to complete a legal form called a health care proxy. If you choose to complete a proxy, follow these steps to guide you:

  1. Choose a health care agent and an alternate agent (someone who can make decisions for you if your original agent is unable to do so).
  2. Read Your Health Care Proxy, a handout that answers common questions patients have.
  3. Complete a proxy.
  4. Share your treatment wishes, including end-of-life wishes, with your health care agents.
  5. Give copies of the proxy to your agents and a member of your health care team.