Support for Serious Illness, Aging, Dementia, and End-of-Life Care in Maine
Support for serious illness, aging, dementia, and end-of-life decisions in Maine.
Still Harbor Health offers compassionate Nurse Practitioner guidance for patients and families who need help understanding what’s changing, what choices are available, and what comes next.
Supportive care, also known as palliative care, can begin long before hospice or the final stage of life.
How Still Harbor Health Can Help
Serious Illness & Supportive Care
For patients and families navigating a serious illness who need help managing symptoms, understanding treatment options, and making decisions that protect quality of life.
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Geriatric & Aging-in-Place Support
For older adults who need extra support with safety, medications, changing function, care coordination, and planning ahead while living at home.
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Dementia Care Guidance
For families navigating memory loss or dementia who need help understanding what is changing, what support is needed, and what may come next.
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Solitary Ager Support
For older adults without a spouse, nearby family, or clear healthcare proxy who want thoughtful planning, medical guidance, and peace of mind.
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End-of-Life Planning & Support
For patients and families preparing for the final stage of life who need guidance around comfort, hospice, family conversations, and practical next steps.
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Caregiver & Family Support
For spouses, adult children, and loved ones who need help understanding the medical picture, planning next steps, and carrying less of it alone.
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Death with Dignity Guidance in Maine
Compassionate guidance for Maine patients and families considering Death with Dignity, with support around eligibility, referrals, preparation, and what to expect.
Supportive care, also known as palliative care, is for people living with serious illness who need help managing symptoms, understanding treatment options, and protecting quality of life.
This support can occur alongside treatment. It is not the same as hospice, and it does not mean giving up.
Karin helps patients and families clarify what matters most, understand what each treatment may mean day to day, manage distressing symptoms, and make a plan that honors the patient’s wishes.
Serious Illness & Supportive Care
Support may include:
Serious illness and palliative care guidance
Symptom management for pain, nausea, insomnia, fatigue, constipation, anxiety, shortness of breath, and other concerns
Review of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options
Medication review and deprescribing conversations
Goals-of-care conversations
Advance directive, POLST, and DNR planning
Communication with primary care providers, specialists, hospice teams, and other members of the care team
Support creating a plan to avoid unnecessary emergency room visits when appropriate
Support may include:
In-home Nurse Practitioner visits
Monitoring changes in mobility, safety, sleep, appetite, and daily function
Medication review and deprescribing support
Assessment and treatment of minor infections or conditions as appropriate
Fall risk and home safety conversations
Support after an emergency room visit, hospitalization, or rehab stay
Coordination with the primary care team
Family communication and care planning
Advance care planning and updates to existing documents
Referrals to home care, private duty caregivers, home health, hospice, or other local resources when appropriate
Karin does not replace primary care for patients expected to need long-term routine medical care. Instead, she serves as an extra layer of support for complex needs, changing function, future planning, and serious illness guidance.
Aging at home can become more complicated when health needs change, medications pile up, appointments become harder to attend, or family members live far away.
Still Harbor Health offers geriatric care and aging-in-place support for older adults who need more time, more context, and more guidance than a traditional medical appointment can usually provide.
Karin can visit the home, assess what is changing, and help the patient and family plan for safety, support, and future care needs.
Geriatric & Aging-in-Place Support
Dementia Care Guidance
Support may include:
Dementia care guidance in Maine
Dementia stage evaluation
Capacity and decision-making guidance
Caregiver education and support
Family meetings in person or virtually
Advance directive and healthcare proxy conversations
Home care resource referrals
Safety planning around falls, wandering, nutrition, sleep, agitation, and changing care needs
Medication review and symptom management when appropriate
Level-of-care transition guidance
Hospice eligibility review and referral when appropriate
As dementia progresses, families can get caught in a cycle of emergency room visits, hospitalizations, rehab stays, and returns home. Karin helps families create a more thoughtful plan before the next crisis.
Dementia affects more than memory. It can change safety, communication, behavior, caregiving needs, decision-making, and the level of support needed at home.
Still Harbor Health helps families understand where things are now, what may be coming next, and how to plan with compassion and clarity.
This service is especially helpful for spouses, adult children, caregivers, and healthcare proxies who are trying to make good decisions while feeling overwhelmed or unsure.
Solitary Ager Support
Not everyone has a spouse, nearby adult children, or a clear person who can step in during a medical crisis.
Still Harbor Health offers support for solitary agers who want to protect their autonomy, document their wishes, and create a plan before something urgent happens.
This service may be a good fit if you are aging without local family, unsure who could serve as your healthcare proxy, or want a trusted medical professional who understands your goals and can help you think through major decisions.
Support may include:
Goals-of-care conversations
Advance directive planning
Healthcare proxy and decision-maker conversations
Medication review
Quarterly in-home check-ins when appropriate
Emergency planning
Care coordination after specialist visits, procedures, or hospitalizations
Support understanding whether your current living situation is still safe
Guidance around home care, assisted living, hospice, or other future support needs
The goal is peace of mind: making sure your wishes are clear, documented, and easier to honor.
End-of-Life Planning & Support
End-of-life care is not only about the final days. It is about comfort, dignity, preparation, family communication, and making sure the patient’s wishes are understood.
Karin supports patients and families who are nearing the end of life, whether they choose hospice, are considering hospice, are not yet ready for hospice, or prefer a more private comfort-focused path.
Support may include:
End-of-life support in Maine
Hospice eligibility review and referral
Collaboration with hospice agencies as a consultant or attending provider when appropriate
Comfort medication prescribing and adjustment when appropriate
Planning for pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, agitation, nausea, constipation, and other symptoms
Family education about what to expect during the dying process
Support for life closure conversations and activities
Funeral home and death certificate guidance when appropriate
Practical support around the “business of dying”
Bereavement follow-up and grief support resources
Talking about dying does not make it happen. Thoughtful preparation can reduce fear, prevent unnecessary suffering, and help families focus on being present.
Caregiver & Family Support
Sometimes the person who is sick does not want to talk about what is happening. Sometimes the family is the one searching late at night, trying to understand what to do next.
Still Harbor Health can support caregivers, spouses, adult children, neighbors, and healthcare proxies who need guidance, even if the patient is not ready to engage directly.
Support may include:
Caregiver support for serious illness, dementia, aging, or end-of-life care
Help understanding what is happening medically
Guidance around available resources
Family meetings and care conferences
Support preparing for next steps
Education about palliative care, hospice, home care, and facility options
Help navigating family disagreement or uncertainty
Emotional support around caregiver burnout, guilt, grief, and decision fatigue
Caregivers often carry an enormous amount quietly. You deserve support, too.
Death with Dignity Guidance in Maine
Maine’s Death with Dignity law can be difficult to understand and emotionally complex to navigate.
Karin offers experienced guidance for patients and families exploring Medical Aid in Dying / Death with Dignity in Maine. Her role is to educate, guide, coordinate, and support the patient and family through the process.
Karin does not prescribe Death with Dignity medication. In Maine, prescribing requires physician involvement. Karin can help patients and families understand eligibility, prepare for the process, and connect with participating physicians when appropriate.
Support may include:
Discussion of eligibility
Education about Maine Death with Dignity law requirements
Referral to prescribing and consulting physicians when appropriate
Step-by-step preparation guidance
Support for caregivers and family members
Experienced presence at the time of ingestion when arranged
Assistance with funeral home transition
Completion of the death certificate when appropriate
Follow-up grief support and resources
Death with Dignity is a personal, self-directed act. You do not have to navigate it alone.