For nearly 50 years, Trellis Supportive Care has served people living with serious illnesses in northwest North Carolina.
“Our goal is to help people with serious illness live as well as possible at any stage of their illness. It can start with an advance care planning session, a palliative care consultation with goals of care conversations, and extend to expert hospice care with many layers of support for both patients and their loved ones,” said Michael Lalor, M.D., president and CEO of the nonprofit, which serves 13 counties.
Hospice care, palliative care, specialized disease-specific care, respite care and grief counseling are among the services offered, along with several community-based programs including Camp Carousel, veteran support programs and advance care planning services.
Trellis’s KBR Hospice Home in Winston-Salem features 40 private patient rooms offering state-of-the-art care in a beautiful, home-like setting.
One of the first steps in preparing for a serious illness or healthcare crisis is discussing your care preferences and documenting your wishes. Trellis understands that having your voice heard makes a meaningful difference in your care journey.
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Many people assume their loved ones will know what to do in a medical crisis, such as a stroke, accident or end-of-life situation. But without clear guidance or advanced care plans, families may disagree about what a patient would want. Making these decisions without a plan can be overwhelming and place significant emotional strain on those left behind.
Choosing a healthcare advocate to carry out your wishes is essential. Professional support, like that offered by Trellis Supportive Care, can make the process easier. As Lalor said, documenting your wishes is “a gift” to those who may one day need to make decisions on your behalf, removing uncertainty and guesswork.
In addition to advance care planning, Trellis programs include GUIDE (Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience), which focuses on coordinated care for dementia patients and their caregivers to improve quality of life and delay nursing home care; specialized veteran care; disease-specific care programs designed to manage complex symptoms, including care for pediatric and teen patients; and advanced cardiac and lung care.
“‘Serious illness provider’ is what we prefer to call our work,” said Lalor. “We bridge the care gap for anyone needing more than primary care, experiencing frequent hospital stays or becoming increasingly homebound.”
The nonprofit delivers care to nearly 1,000 patients daily. Dedicated interdisciplinary patient teams include board-certified physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, chaplains and certified nursing assistants, supported by hundreds of volunteers. Patients receive support regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status.
“Most people are aware of us through our hospice support,” Lalor said. “But in the last 15 to 20 years, we’ve seen a growing recognition that these services we have provided to our hospice patients are services that can be applied over a longer period of time, helping to serve people with any serious illness, including cardiac, pulmonary, neurological conditions and dementia, not just end-of-life situations. There’s more of a widespread awareness that these are needed services, and Trellis Supportive Care has the tools to help everyone in the community.”
The team at Trellis is made up of compassionate professionals with deep expertise and a heartfelt desire to help more people, sooner, as they face serious illness. “Once a client experiences the full breadth and depth of services we offer, moving from the initial thought of ‘maybe I need help’ to eventually transitioning to a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary level of care, they realize how fully encompassing our support truly is,” Lalor said. “You have at your fingertips an organization that is focused on the quality of your life, whatever that quality means to you as an individual.”
With offices in Winston-Salem in Forsyth County, Walnut Cove in Stokes County, Mocksville in Davie County, and Salisbury in Rowan County, the Trellis team is never far away. For more information or to schedule an informational visit, please visit trellissupport.org.
