6
q
WHO
would you want to speak
for you if you were seriously ill or
injured and unable to speak for
yourself? Is life support an option
you would choose? What would you
want to happen?
These decisions are tough. But let
National Healthcare Decisions Day
(NHDD), April 16, inspire, educate
and empower you about the impor-
tance of advance care planning. Now
in its seventh year, NHDD encour-
ages patients to express their wishes
regarding healthcare and providers
and facilities to respect those wishes.
Understanding your rights
By law, adults in Virginia have the
right to have an advance directive.
Anyone 18 or older may designate
a person—a spouse, son, daughter
or friend—to make decisions about
their healthcare if they become inca-
pable of making informed healthcare
decisions on their own. This person
is called a healthcare power of at-
torney, or proxy.
“Advance directives have the
power to provide a clear understand-
ing of what people want and take
away the fear of ‘doing the right
thing’ and ‘making the right choice’
for family members already suffer-
ing through an extremely emotional
time,” says Halifax Regional Hospital
(HRH) Chaplain Vance Midgett.
Midgett also points out that indi-
viduals should not confuse financial
power of attorney and healthcare
power of attorney. “These are two
very different things,” he says. “Only
someone with healthcare power
of attorney can make healthcare
decisions.”
An adult
may also add
information
in the second
part of the directive, called a “living
will.” You may write what kind of
life-prolonging treatment you want
or do not want, should you be diag-
nosed with a terminal condition and
unable to express your wishes. This
form also includes an organ dona-
tion signature area.
Educating patients
“Advance directives are offered
to patients at Halifax Regional
Hospital through our
Your Hospital
Stay
booklets, which are provided
to each new admission,” says Guest
Services Coordinator Janet Conner.
“If a patient doesn’t already have
an advance directive in place, then
guest services offer a consultation
when they visit with the patient and
their family. We are also available
for consultations with people in the
community who feel it is time to
make decisions on their end-of-life
care.”
According to Conner, since the
Your Hospital Stay
booklets were first
introduced in May 2013, patients
have been more educated about and
interested in their advance directive.
“In the past, I consulted with
maybe one or two patients per week
and helped them complete their ad-
vance directive,” she says. “Now I’m
working with double and even triple
the number of patients on their
advance directive each week. That’s
a significant increase and a change
we can be happy about because these
documents are so incredibly impor-
tant in healthcare.”
Is it time you did something
about it?
H E A L T H C A R E D E C I S I O N S
The power to speak for yourself
Find out more about advance directives. Visit us online
at
. Click on “Patients & Visitors” to
download the Virginia Advance Medical Directive form.
For additional questions, or to schedule a speaker on the topic of
healthcare decisions and advance directives, call
434-517-3995
.
