April 16 marks National Healthcare Decisions Day, a day meant to shine a spotlight on the importance of advance care planning. If you’re like many of us, advance care planning, which is the process of thinking about and discussing future healthcare wishes, is not of the utmost importance; after all, you’re feeling well today, so why worry about what might happen tomorrow? This kind of thinking is why we don’t plan an advance care directive. Another reason is because many people don’t even know what one is; if that’s the case with you, you’re not alone.
An advance care directive is a legal document that records the wishes of your advance care plan. It instructs your doctors to the kind of care and treatment you would like to receive in the event that you are unable to make decisions for yourself. The advance directive will answer questions such as what kind of care you would want if you become unconscious and who is able to make your healthcare decisions for you in a situation where you are unable to do it yourself. It is important to research the laws about advance care directives in your own state, as they vary from state to state.
Thinking about this kind of stuff is not always comfortable. It makes us keenly aware of our mortality, particularly as we age. And it is ageing populations, especially those with terminal illnesses, like dementia, who need to make creating an advance care directive a priority. Anyone in this kind of situation should be proactive and make sure they get an advance directive in the early stages of the disease, when they still have all their faculties.
But how to do this?
There are different ways in which you can implement an advance directive. You can:
- Ask your physician if they are able to provide you with an advance directive form.
- Call a lawyer to have papers drawn up on your behalf.
- Go through your state’s Department of State, Health Department, or Department of Elder Affairs.
- Write your directives yourself.
- Use Five Wishes, an advance directive available at www.fivewishes.org or download through our website here.
It’s important to understand that there are a number of requests you can make regarding your end-of-life care in your advance care directive. You can:
- State whether or not you want to have a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order.
- Indicate who you want to have as your healthcare agent if you are unable to represent yourself.
- If you would like to be placed on life support.
- At what point you would like to be taken off life support.
- The level of comfort you want to be in during treatment.
- How you want to be treated and cared for.
- What information you would like to share with your loved ones.
- Who should be present at your time of death.
After you have created your advance care directive, be sure to take the time to go over it with your doctor and family members, and if appropriate, your lawyer and spiritual leader. Try to think of key people who would need to know your healthcare wishes and go over the directives you’ve set out so there is no confusion. Be sure to take the time to answer any questions they might have about the instructions you have indicated in your advance care directive.
This information is for educational purposes. Please consult your physician regarding any medical issues. The Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) is committed to bringing trusted and quality home health, private care and hospice to Indian River County patients. For more information about VNA services, including Advance Care Planning, call 772-567-5551 or visit www.vnatc.com.
