Like wearing a seat belt, having a completed Advance Directive gives you a better chance of having the life you want. During a health emergency, decisions can be so much easier when families have discussed and mapped out their wishes ahead of time.
Advance Directive for Health Care
What is it?
It’s a process of creating a written healthcare plan (advance directive) that tells others what you would want if you couldn’t tell them yourself.
Why do I need one?
If you had a serious illness or accident and couldn’t communicate, those closest to you would have to make healthcare decisions for you—it helps them to know what you would want.
What happens without one?
It can lead to unwanted medical treatments and interventions, and add more stress to an already stressful situation for those closest to you.
How does it work?
In 3 facilitated sessions, you complete your Advance Directive—supported by well-trained staff and volunteers who guide you to consider the best options for your care based on your values, goals, and wishes.
Thinking about and planning ahead for emergencies and end-of-life situations when you are in good health gives you and your loved ones the opportunity to prepare for a medical crisis
Call us today! Contact our office at 802-257-0775 or email us at info@brattleborohospice.org and we will arrange for a staff member or trained volunteer to assist you in thinking through your advance care planning and completing your directive.
Taking Steps Brattleboro
A Program of Brattleboro Area Hospice in partnership with Vermont Ethics Network (www.vtethicsnetwork.org)
Here are articles we recommend about end of life planning:
“I don’t think we would have been comfortable completing an Advance Directive without personnel support and guidance. Our facilitator was willing to talk. She was able to suggest additional resources we might find helpful. SHE MADE IT MANAGEABLE!”
To learn more about our inspiration for creating Taking Steps Brattleboro, here is a documentary about the highly successful Respecting Choices Program from LaCrosse, Wisconsin:
Listen to Dr. Haider Warraich explain the new realities we face at end of life:
Fresh Air Interview with Dr. Warraich
Haider Warraich, a fellow in cardiology at Duke University Medical Center, tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross that death used to be sudden, unexpected and relatively swift — the result of a violent cause, or perhaps an infection. But, he says, modern medicines and medical technologies have lead to a “dramatic extension” of life — and a more prolonged dying processes.
Worth a Listen! What doctors choose at end of life will surprise you. “We turn to doctors to save our lives — to heal us, repair us, and keep us healthy. But when it comes to the critical question of what to do when death is at hand, there seems to be a gap between what we want doctors to do for us, and what doctors want done for themselves.” A 30 minute program on NPR’s Radiolab https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/262588-bitter-end