BGH joins National Healthcare Decisions Day

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, April 16, 2009!  Bonner General Hospital is joining healthcare organizations across the country in National Healthcare Decisions Day, a national effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making.

On Wednesday, April 16, from noon until 4 p.m. in the hospital classroom, we will provide free information to the public about living wills and healthcare powers of attorney.

Also known as “advance directives,” these forms give you the ability to guide your healthcare providers and loved ones by documenting the types of healthcare you do and do not want and to name an “agent” to speak for you if you cannot speak for yourself.

In addition to providing these advance directive forms at no charge, hospital social workers will be on hand to answer your questions and help you complete them.

As Terri Schiavo’s situation vividly revealed, having an advance directive can be valuable for all adults, regardless of current age or health status.

With the Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990, Congress affirmed the right of every citizen to set forth his or her future healthcare wishes in writing with an “advance directive.”

Yet various estimates suggest that fewer than 25 percent of all Americans have an advance directive.

For an action that can be done without a lawyer, for free, and relatively easily, this figure is astonishingly low.

National Healthcare Decisions Day strives to provide much-needed information to the public, reduce the number of tragedies that occur when a person’s wishes are unknown, and improve the ability of healthcare facilities and providers to offer informed and thoughtful guidance about advance healthcare planning to their patients.

With healthcare, your decisions matter.  However, others need to know your wishes to honor them. There are no wrong answers when thinking about healthcare choices and completing an advance directive.

Please use Thursday, April 16, 2009 to decide, discuss and document your wishes, whatever they may be.

n Lynda Metz is the cirector of community development at Bonner General Hospital.