Have you ever thought, what is an advance directive, and do I really need one? Maybe you have an advance directive form sitting on your coffee table and are unsure how to take the first step filling it out. These are common questions people face when beginning Advance Care Planning—and if you’ve asked yourself the same, you’re not alone.
Advance care planning is the process of exploring your healthcare wishes, sharing your preferences with family, loved ones, and/or your designated agents, and completing documents in an effort to prepare for the end of life. CVHHH recommends anyone over the age 18 completes this process, and we want individuals to feel empowered, informed, and prepared to make their care healthcare wishes known.
“Life is not about the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away.” Maya Angelou
Quality of life, where you’d like to receive care, which interventions you’d allow, and who you would like to make medical decisions on your behalf if you can’t communicate your wishes are key considerations when setting an advance care plan. Starting conversations around this topic with your loved ones can help clarify your long-term care goals through the end of life, and ensures that you and your health care proxy are aligned should something unexpected happen. Additionally, knowing how to complete and file an advance directive helps make certain that your preferences can be accessed by your loved ones and healthcare team.
Explore Your Preferences
Some questions you can ask to help understand what matters to you:
What matters most to you?
- Who would you trust to follow your wishes?
- Where do you prefer to die?
- How do you prefer your death to go?
- What do you value most: quantity or quality of life?
What are your hard N-Os?
- What interventions would be unacceptable to you?
- What situations would be worse than death?
- Who should not be involved in your care?
- What places would you not want to be at the end of your life?
Understand the impact of interventions.
- Have good understanding of what interventions such as CPR entail.
- Look at bigger picture of your overall health and the long-term impact of interventions when deciding what you may want.
- It’s not what you see in the movies!
Steps
Here are the general steps to take to put an advance care plan in place.
- Discuss: Start the conversation and make your wishes known.
- Notify: Ask your Health Care Agent (HCA) if they can carry out your wishes, even if your wishes do not align with their preferences
- Document: Complete necessary documentation, e.g., Advance Directive and the COLST/DNR forms.
- Share: Share your advance care planning documents with your primary care provider, hospital, local EMS, facility, home health provider, and health care agent.
- Revisit: Revisit your advance care planning documents and and discuss with your family and health care agent. Make updates as health status and/or preferences change.
Advance Care Planning Resources
- DNR/COLST form
- Instructions for submitting your completed advance directive to the VT Advance Directive Registry.
- Helpful Tools for Decision-Making – Guides to choosing your healthcare agent, conversation starter kits, and more.
The Conversation Project Another great resource with guides and checklists, including:
Questions? Contact Emily McKenna, Chief Advancement Officer, at 802-224-2215 or emckenna@cvhhh.org for more information.