Advance Care Planning

Advance care planning involves making decisions about the care you would want to receive if you happen to become unable to speak for yourself. These are your decisions to make, regardless of what you choose for your care. The decisions are based on your personal values, preferences, and discussions with your loved ones. If you are in an accident or have an illness that leaves you unable to talk about your wishes, who will speak for you? You can tell your family, friends and healthcare providers what your wishes and personal beliefs are about continuing or withdrawing medical treatments at the end of life. Advance care planning includes:

• Getting information on the types of life-sustaining treatments that are available.
• Deciding what types of treatment you would or would not want should you be diagnosed with a life-limiting illness.
• Sharing your personal values with your loved ones.
• Completing advance directives to put into writing what types of treatment you would or would not want should you be unable to speak for yourself.

Communicating Your End-of-Life Wishes
Decisions about end-of-life care are deeply personal, and are based on your values and beliefs. Because it is impossible to foresee every type of circumstance or illness, it is essential to think in general about what is important to you. Glory Hospice & Palliative Care assist you with your wishes and beliefs will relieve loved ones and healthcare providers of the need to guess what you would want.
Armed with a clear understanding of personal values and goals, the planning process allows the person to identify the levels and intensity of medical care he or she would like, or not like, to receive in a variety of clinical situations. As we go through this section, we will provide you with tools to help the you and your loved one come to a clear understanding of his or her personal values. First, we would like to go over the documents used in the care planning process.

Advance Care Planning Means:
Understanding possible future health choices
Thinking about these choices in light of what is important to you
Talking about your decisions with loved ones and your doctors
Putting your plans in writing so they will be ready if they are needed
It is the process of planning for future medical care
It is based on clarification of values and goals
It outlines choices if someone else must make medical decisions

Advance Directives
The documents used in advance care planning are called “Advance Directives.” They fall into two categories: (1) those that provide instructions regarding medical care and (2) those that designate someone, known as a “proxy” or “surrogate,” who is empowered to make decisions for the person who is ill. The health care surrogate instruments deal with health decisions. A Durable Power of Attorney expands decision-making power to other areas. States have differing laws governing advance directives and forms that are recognized within that state.

For more information on Advance Directives, please call 706-507-5445 or email us at info@gloryhpc.com.