• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Faithfully Free
  • Eat
    • Easy Beef Recipes
    • Easy Bread Recipes
    • Easy Breakfast Recipes
    • Easy Cake Recipes
    • Easy Casserole Recipes
    • Easy Chicken Recipes
    • Easy Cookie Recipes
    • Easy Cream Cheese Recipes
    • Easy Dessert Recipes
    • Easy Muffin Recipes
    • Easy Oatmeal Recipes
    • Easy Pasta Recipes
    • Easy Pizza Recipes
    • Easy Pork Recipes
    • Easy Rice Recipes
    • Easy Salad Recipes
    • Easy Sandwich Recipes
    • Easy Side Dish Recipes
    • Easy Snack Recipes
    • Easy Soup Recipes
    • Easy Tortilla Recipes
    • Easy Yogurt Recipes
  • Faith
    • Bible Study
    • Charity Work
    • The Real Me
      • Military Living
      • Music
  • For The Home
    • Cleaning
    • Shopping
      • Apps
      • Books
      • Gifts
  • Relationships
    • Divorce
    • Marriage
    • Parenting
    • Pets
  • Wellness
    • Fitness
    • Health
    • Nutrition
  • WAHM
    • Blogging 101
  • ABOUT
    • Examples Of Our Work
  • PRIVACY POLICY
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Eat
    • Easy Beef Recipes
    • Easy Bread Recipes
    • Easy Breakfast Recipes
    • Easy Cake Recipes
    • Easy Casserole Recipes
    • Easy Chicken Recipes
    • Easy Cookie Recipes
    • Easy Cream Cheese Recipes
    • Easy Dessert Recipes
    • Easy Muffin Recipes
    • Easy Oatmeal Recipes
    • Easy Pasta Recipes
    • Easy Pizza Recipes
    • Easy Pork Recipes
    • Easy Rice Recipes
    • Easy Salad Recipes
    • Easy Sandwich Recipes
    • Easy Side Dish Recipes
    • Easy Snack Recipes
    • Easy Soup Recipes
    • Easy Tortilla Recipes
    • Easy Yogurt Recipes
  • Faith
    • Bible Study
    • Charity Work
    • The Real Me
      • Military Living
      • Music
  • For The Home
    • Cleaning
    • Shopping
      • Apps
      • Books
      • Gifts
  • Relationships
    • Divorce
    • Marriage
    • Parenting
    • Pets
  • Wellness
    • Fitness
    • Health
    • Nutrition
  • WAHM
    • Blogging 101
  • ABOUT
    • Examples Of Our Work
  • PRIVACY POLICY
×

Home » Relationships » National Healthcare Decisions Day: Taking the Time to Plan

National Healthcare Decisions Day: Taking the Time to Plan

April 14, 2015 by Shasta Walton Leave a Comment
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclaimer for more info.

Sharing is caring!

0shares
  • Share
  • Mix
  • Tweet
  • Yummly

Tips on How to Begin Necessary Conversations with Loved Ones about Their End of Life Care Wishes

 

April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day – A day set aside to encourage all of us to discuss important advance planning end of life health care wishes. It’s an opportunity to begin the process of documenting those wishes before a stressful health crisis arises.

 

It can be tough to get started. It may even feel a bit awkward, but powerful conversations with family members today can assure end-of-life preferences are honored and reduce stress and uncertainty in the future. Planning today can help ensure that your loved ones will receive the treatments they want, and avoid the care that they don’t want at the end of life.

 

According to a national survey by The Conversation Project, more than 90% of the people think it’s important to talk about their loved ones’ and their own wishes for end-of-life care, but fewer than 30% of people have actually had the conversation. Many people simply haven’t gotten around to taking the necessary steps to crystallize what they want and to formalize it. Sometimes it’s because people don’t know how to start the conversation with their loved ones.

 

A great way to start is by thinking about what is most important to you if you or your loved ones were facing a life threatening or progressive illness. You would start planning and reflecting on what you and your loved ones would want, expressing those desires and having the thoughtful conversation. After all, no one wants to be scrambling for paperwork, evaluating care choices or putting their families through uncertainty.

 

Here are simple steps to begin the conversation and planning for important end of life health care decisions:

 

  • Start with your loved ones. Honest communication can help families avoid the stress of guessing what a family member would have wanted. You may find that you and your loved ones may see some things differently. That’s okay. Be open with each other and focus on really understanding the views of those you love.

 

  • Think about what is most important to you. What are your greatest fears, hopes and goals? Who would you prefer to make decisions on your behalf with your physicians if you could not? How sure are you of your choices? Do you want your chosen proxy to have leeway to change your decisions? Discuss these topics with your loved ones to reach a shared understanding of your desires.

 

  • Make it official. Once you’ve had the conversation, formalize your decisions by putting them in writing. There are several ways. An advance directive can help describe your medical wishes when you no longer can. Special medical orders can be developed with your doctor. Finally, a health care proxy identifies your health care agent—the person you trust to act on your behalf if you are unable to make decisions or communicate your wishes.

 

  • Get help. You can find valuable resources to help you think through these issues and make decisions more manageable at theconversationproject.org and agingwithdignity.org.

 

JamesMittlebergerMD This guest post was written by By Dr. James Mittelberger.

Sharing is caring!

0shares
  • Share
  • Mix
  • Tweet
  • Yummly
Previous Post: « Sweet Potato Bread & Pineapple Butter
Next Post: Snickerdoodle Cookie Muffins Recipe »

Reader Interactions

Share from the heart! Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

JOIN OUR SQUAD

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Apps Blog Blogging 101 Books Charity Work Cleaning Crafts Divorce Easy Beef Recipes Easy Bread Recipes Easy Breakfast Recipes Easy Cake Recipes Easy Casserole Recipes Easy Chicken Recipes Easy Cookie Recipes Easy Cream Cheese Recipes Easy Dessert Recipes Easy Muffin Recipes Easy Oatmeal Recipes Easy Pasta Recipes Easy Pizza Recipes Easy Pork Recipes Easy Rice Recipes Easy Salad Recipes Easy Sandwich Recipes Easy Side Dish Recipes Easy Snack Recipes Easy Soup Recipes Easy Tortilla Recipes Easy Yogurt Recipes Eat Faith Fitness For The Home Gifts Health Marriage Nutrition Parenting Pets Popular Posts Relationships Shopping The Real Me Work From Home

Copyright © 2021 Faithfully Free on the Foodie Pro Theme