Tomorrow, July 16th, is National Healthcare Decisions Day 2.0. Founded by healthcare attorney Nathan Kottkamp and sponsored by The Conversation Project, NHDD was designed to increase awareness of the need for advance care planning.
Now more than ever, we’re aware of how crucial it is to have an advance care plan (ACP) in place, to make your end of life wishes known to everyone on your healthcare team. That team includes your doctor and other healthcare providers. It also includes any family members or friends who might be involved in your care.
The Heart of Hospice, LLC
Today I’m writing to you healthcare providers, especially those who work in the hospice and palliative care industry. What about you? Do you have an advance care plan? Have you had those “death talks” with your significant other or kids?
I don’t think end of life and palliative professionals are any better at having those ACP conversations. I’ll confess that I haven’t had a serious talk about my wishes with my adult kids. It’s long overdue.
Healthcare providers should know better. We see firsthand what happens. We support patients and families as they navigate through serious illnesses without any advance directives. It can get ugly. There are legal and ethic dilemmas that come up. Decision making for families can be heartbreaking. There are considerations for surgeries that might not help, feeding tubes that only prolong suffering.
I don’t want my husband and kids to have to make those decisions for me. I want to decide for myself what will happen when I get close to the end of my life. Adding the burden of figuring out what to do to care for me is only going to add to their grief. I don’t want that for the people I love.
You probably don’t want that either. Why not make it easier for them? It’s easier than you think to get your ACP done. There are tools out there to help you. Check out today’s podcast on NHDD, Episode 65 “It’s Time to Have the Conversation”. Jerry and I pull out all the great resources available to help you get the conversation started – affordable, easy to use, versatile, and easily customized to fit whatever you need to talk about.
After you get through talking – take the next step. Write it down. Make it legal and make it known. Make sure your doctor has a copy in your medical record. Keep a couple of copies at home so they’re handy in an emergency. Let your family know where you keep your ACP documents. Remember it’s not one and done job – be sure to keep your ACP updated. It’s a good idea to revisit the topic every year or when you have a change in your health status.
Healthcare workers – enough already with the “Do as I say, not as I do”! We know how to do better. We should do better.
We can do advance care planning right. For our patients. For ourselves.
No matter who you are, or where you are in your hospice journey, you are The Heart of Hospice.