National Healthcare Decisions Day: A chance to plan for future issues
This Saturday, April 16, 2016, is National Healthcare Decisions Day and we invite you, the community of North Idaho to participate. The goal of this initiative is to ensure that all adults with decision-making capacity have both the information and the opportunity to communicate and document their future healthcare decisions.
As a result of this day, more than a million people so far have obtained resources to make their healthcare decisions known — but there remain millions, and thousands, locally here in North Idaho to go.
While making healthcare decisions is often difficult in the best of circumstances, making decisions for others is even more complicated. Each of us has the ability to guide our healthcare providers and our loved ones about what we want. Advance directives give you the ability to document the types of healthcare you do and do not want, and to name an “agent” to speak for you if you cannot speak for yourself. As Terri Schiavo’s situation vividly revealed, having an advance directive can be valuable for all adults, regardless of current age or health status.
With the Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990, Congress affirmed the right of every citizen to set forth his or her future healthcare wishes in writing with an “advance directive.” Yet, various estimates suggest that only about 25 percent of all Americans have done so. Because advance directives can be created in Idaho without a lawyer, for free, and relatively easily, this figure is astonishingly low. In recognition of this, National Healthcare Decisions Day strives to provide much-needed information to the public, reduce the number of tragedies that occur when a person’s wishes are unknown, and improve the ability of healthcare facilities and providers to offer informed and thoughtful guidance about advance healthcare planning to their patients.
Hospice of North Idaho is the community’s local resource for end of life care planning. Please visit www.hospiceofnorthidaho.org for a variety of free tools to assist with thoughtful reflection on healthcare choices and advance directives forms for Idaho. After these forms are completed, you have the option to register these forms with the Idaho Secretary of State by visiting http://www.sos.idaho.gov, filling out the Idaho Health Care Directive Registry Form, and attaching your Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care forms. Once registered, you will receive a registration card with your filing number and password so others can access your information in case of an emergency, which can be especially helpful if you travel often.
Finally, please share this information with your loved ones and colleagues. Hospice of North Idaho’s website has lots of information on how to have difficult conversations on your end of life wishes with loved ones and your physician. If you need help or further information, please call (208)772-7994 and speak with one of our trained experts.
Your decisions matter; however, others need to know your wishes to honor them. There are no wrong answers when thinking about healthcare choices and completing an advance directive. Please use April 16, 2016, to decide, discuss, and document your wishes, whatever they may be.
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Robert Anker, MD, is medical director at Hospice of North Idaho. Amanda Miller is the director of communication at Hospice of North Idaho.