It Always Seems Too Early, Until It’s Too Late is the theme of National Healthcare Decisions Day which, this year, falls on Easter Sunday. The day is part of a national initiative to encourage people to express their wishes regarding health care and for providers and facilities to respect those wishes, whatever they may be. The promotion locally is being led by Hospice of Chattanooga, this region’s only not-for-profit provider of hospice services.
One of the most common situations targeted by Decisions Day is one in which a mom or dad is dying and their children argue over what measures the parent would have chosen. “Yes, that is exactly what we would like to change” says Hospice of Chattanooga CEO Tracy Wood. “Advance healthcare decision-making includes much more than living wills or your financial plan; it is a process that should focus first on a conversation and then choosing a healthcare proxy or agent.” Ms. Wood says the 35-year-old hospice agency is involved with both state and national programs whose goal is to make people comfortable sharing what they would or would not want at the end of life.
At the state level, the Tennessee End of Life Partnership holds regular sessions in Chattanooga for healthcare providers from hospitals and other facilities. “It is a process that involves many” says Dr. Greg Phelps, medical director for Hospice of Chattanooga. “You may have told the kids what you do and don’t want but TELP training reminds clinicians how to honor and respect those requests.”
Nationally, Dr. Phelps says ‘The Conversation Project’ and ‘Five Wishes’ appear to be the leading tools that Americans are using to help them with the conversation about dying. Both have printable forms that can be used to create advance care plan.
Because the National Healthcare Decisions Day falls on Easter this year, the entire next week will be used for promotional events according to Nathan Kottkamp, who created the initiative.
For more information about advance care planning locally, call Hospice of Chattanooga at 892-4289.