CARe Clinic

The Calgary Advanced Respiratory Disease (CARe) Clinic at the South Health Campus is an outpatient clinic offering an innovative approach to supporting patients with severe lung disease. Our team of medical specialists bring best practices from several disciplines and care models to improve symptoms, reduce hospital visits, and provide emotional support to patients and caregivers.

The CARe Clinic introduces the principles of palliative care early in the journey of severe lung disease by providing compassion along with access to services that increase both quality and quantity of life. Our person-centered approach supports patients through many months and even years when they are ill but don’t require hospital level care. Then, when the patient does enter the final stages of life, he or she is well prepared emotionally and physically.

• Longer appointment times to allow for comprehensive discussions
• Symptom management for breathlessness (dyspnea), cough, anxiety, and depression
• Individualised action plans for breathlessness
• Advance care planning, including serious illness conversations and goals of care discussions
• Support and guidance for family physicians and referring physicians
• Psychological care and referrals to specialists if necessary
• Access to our Nursing Phone Line
• Access to respiratory therapists
• Referrals to social workers and community services for help with housing, transportation and access to medication
• Referrals to and collaboration with home care services, including palliative consultants
• Bereavement counseling and support for caregivers and family members

How to access the CARe Clinic
To be seen at the CARe Clinic, you must have advanced or progressive lung disease, AND one or more of the following:
• Breathlessness that interferes with your ability to function or other severe symptoms due to lung disease such as cough, anxiety, or depression.
• Recurrent hospitalisations for lung disease (more than two per year).
• Emotional distress or suffering if you or a loved one are living with severe lung disease.

A referral to the CARe Clinic should be made through your respirologist or other specialist via Connect Care.