Advance Care Planning (ACP) during the COVID-19 Pandemic
You have heard it over and over by now; “unprecedented, uncertain times, ventilator shortage”. The list goes on. Coping methods differ between individuals. Some don’t want to hear anything, others are scouring the internet and listening to the news for any information they can find.
Our mission has always been to educate the public about healthcare choices, including end of life choices, and to work with our healthcare communities so that those choices are known and respected at the time of need.
Being educated and sharing your treatment preferences with your patient advocate is a way for you to take control of your healthcare. It is also a gift, both to your patient advocate, and to our healthcare providers! Everyone needs to know what is most important to you during this uncertain time.
For a brief explanation about the importance of ACP, listen to this interview between Shelley Irwin, host of The Morning Show on WGVU 88.5 FM and Carol Robinson DNP, RN, CHPN (MCM Community Coordinator) on how coronavirus may influence end of life planning
https://www.wgvunews.org/post/making-choices-michigan-0
If you already have an Advance Directive,
pull it out and review it. Do you still want the same Patient Advocate(s)? Do your treatment preferences match what you would want in the face of serious life-threatening illness? If yes, have you registered your Directive with Great Lakes Health Connect/MiHIN to make it available to Michigan hospitals? If no, we are happy to
register your Advance Directive
document into our Virtual Integrated Patient Record (VIPR), a service of Great Lakes Health Connect. This is a
free service
, and gives hospitals in Michigan access to your AD in the case of emergency
https://makingchoicesmichigan.org/file-today/
If you don’t have a patient advocate
, consider who you would trust to speak on your behalf. Talk with them about what matters to you to live life well. Then make it legal in an advance directive.
If you are already a Patient
Advocate for someone else
,
now is the time to call that person!
Talk to them about their treatment choices. Has covid-19 changed the way they feel about life-sustaining treatment? What would be most important to them to live life well during this time? Read this article and consider choices based on health status, desires for life-sustaining treatment, where one prefers to spend their last days, who could be with them, to name a few.
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/21/819645036/u-s-hospitals-prepare-guidelines-for-who-gets-care-amid-coronavirus-surge
What is Making Choices Michigan doing?
Although our physical office is closed, we do have trained ACP Facilitators standing by, ready to talk with you by phone or computer. We can help people have the conversation about #WhatMattersMost during these difficult times, then generate an Advance Directive. Go to our website to read articles, watch videos and listen to radio programs. Then contact us to make a conversation/Advance Directive appointment
https://makingchoicesmichigan.org/
We are here to help. Contact us today! Remember, “It’s always too early, until it’s too late.”
