Palliative medicine physician, Roger Cole has been caring for the terminally ill for the last thirty years. He became an Associate Professor and Director of Palliative Care for the Illawarra region between 1990 and 2010. He is an author of three books in the spirituality and meditation genre, including the international bestseller Mission of Love.
After 30 years of serving the Illawarra and Shoalhaven communities in the public health system, Dr Roger Cole now provides palliative medicine services as a private practitioner. He consults from Wollongong Oncology rooms, located at Wollongong Private Hospital, and is available to admit private patients to the hospital for symptom control or end-of-life care.
Dr Roger Cole cares for the following types of patients:
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Patients who require a palliative care service
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Patients who have advanced cancer requiring symptom control, or who are entering the terminal phase
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Patients who have end-stage neurological, cardiac and respiratory conditions, or renal failure, and might benefit from a more general and palliative approach to symptoms, with a focus on improving their quality of life
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Elderly frail patients who might benefit from being on a palliative care pathway as an alternative to repetitive acute care admissions that provide little or no relief from their suffering towards the end of their lives
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Inpatients at Wollongong Private Hospital who require palliative care assessments for symptom control or end-of-life care
Dr Roger Cole prides himself on a broad, holistic, and at times spiritual foundation to the supportive care that he offers patients and their families. As well as symptom-management, he spends time to provide quality information and education about the disease and illness, with empathy and support for the emotional and mental distress that they are experiencing. He has the capacity and experience to teach positive attitudes and self-healing practices, including meditation, that give people a better sense of control and hopefulness in the distressing circumstances of progressing disease processes.