A board-certified internist with over 27 years of experience in primary and hospital-based care, Dr. LaBand works for Collabria Care as our full time Medical Director for our Palliative Care and Hospice programs. Dr. Laband earned his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine, and completed his internship, residency, and chief residency in internal medicine at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. He joined St. Joseph Health in 2015 as a primary care physician, and in 2016 also began working as a part-time hospice physician with Kindred Hospice. After several years of experience as a hospice physician, Dr. Laband was able to achieve the designation of Certified Hospice Medical Director through the Hospice Medical Director Certification Board.
Dr. Laband joined Collabria Care as its Medical Director in July of 2020—and since then, has barely stopped for a coffee!
“In primary care, especially geriatric care, a lot of what we do is palliative in nature because most diseases we encounter as adults are chronic: they may not be fatal, but they are not curable,” says Dr. Laband. “Our responsibility in both hospice and palliative care should be to help people live the best life possible.”
“Early in my career,” Dr. LaBand explained, “I noticed this aspect of patient care was often overlooked, and that frustrated me. I often saw people in the hospital suffering from aggressive treatments and not having a voice in their own healthcare. When I had those conversations and really listened to patients to understand what quality of life meant to them as an individual, I found that people really appreciated those discussions. That changed the way I practiced medicine, and ultimately made the transition to hospice and palliative care an easy one.”
Collabria Care thanks Dr. LaBand for putting these thoughts into daily, compassionate action!