Caring Community - Advance Directives

Advance Health Care Directive (English and Spanish)

Thu, 22 May 2008 10:42:21 -0700

The Advance Health Care Directive is a legally binding form that lets you exercise your right to give instructions about your own health care and/or to name someone else to make health care decisions for you in the event you are unable to speak for yourself. If you use this form, you may complete or modify all or any part of it. You are free to use a different form. In any case, agents designated and signatures required must be done in the manner prescribed on this form and mandated by the California State Legislature.

It is recommended that you use this form and complete the whole form. Completing this form will revoke any previous health care directives. It is advisable to also complete the Values Checklist we provide and include that as an attachment to your Advance Directive to help clarify your wishes.

Equally important is having meaningful conversations with people who care about you so that they know and understand your wishes concerning end of life care. Guidelines to help Talking Things Over are provided on this site to help you through the process.

Upon completion of your Advance Healthcare Directive, copies should be distributed to family members and those who would care for you in the event of a life-threatening condition. It is also recommended that you keep a current copy of your Advance Directive in the glove box of your vehicle.

PDF format

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in PDF format. (You need the free Acrobat Reader to open and print this file.)

DOC format

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in DOC format. (You must have Microsoft Word or a compatible program to open and print this file.)

en Espanol

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in Spanish

Caring Connections - It's About How You LIVE

Sun, 8 Jul 2007 16:19:27 -0700

Caring Connections, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), is a national consumer engagement initiative to improve care at the end of life, supported by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Caring Connections
-Provides free resources, information and motivation for actively learning about end-of-life resources.
-Promotes awareness of and engagement in efforts to increase access to quality end-of-life care.
-Helps people connect with the resources they need, when they need them.
-Brings together community, state and national partners working to improve end-of-life care.

Caring Conversations

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 09:56:13 -0800

*Caring Conversations* was developed by the Center for Practical Bioethics as a consumer education initiative to help individuals and their families share meaningful conversation while making practical preparations for end-of-life decisions.

Caring Conversations is endorsed by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Association and is a recommended resource by AARP and Bill Moyers' outreach materials for his PBS series, On Our Own Terms.

The goals of Caring Conversations:
·To shift the focus of advance care planning to include conversations with family and friends
·To provide community education

Center for Practical Bioethics Resource Links

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:14:19 -0800

The Center for Practical Bioethics offers a variety of publications, video and audiotapes designed to enhance ethics education and promote discussion of ethics issues. Links are provided for free material and for items to purchase via their online store.

Center for Practical Bioethics-Case Studies at the Crossroads of decision

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:11:24 -0800

Case studies provide a way for us to analyze and think-through difficult medical and moral situations. This Center for Practical Bioethics webpage links you to stories that will challenge you to think clearly as you consider options at the crossroads of decision.

Consumer Help Site - National Association of Social Workers

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:55:39 -0800

In thousands of ways, social workers help people help themselves. People of every age. From every background. In every corner of the country - wherever we’re needed - starting here and now. Welcome to your source for professional advice, inspiring stories - even a social worker directory. Social workers. Help starts here. This website is provided by the National Association of Social Workers and includes sections on Seniors and Aging, Issues and Answers, Mind and Spirit. The Senior section includes in-depth look issues of import, real life stories shared, resources of value, current trends, helpful tip, options and other information helpful for finding one’s way through the senior years. The Health and Well Being section includes information related to death and dying, living with illness, pain management, etc. The Mind and Spirit section includes orientation to various mental illnesses, grief & loss and other helpful information.

Elizabeth S. Menkin, MD downloadable documents

Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:12:19 -0700

Dr. Menkin maintains some useful downloadable documents on her website at Kaiser. When we checked, these were available:

Santa Teresa’s Advance Directive Form
Generic Advance Directive and Instructions for Generic AD form
Sample Attachment for an Advance Directive
PreHospital DNR form and CPR FAQ’s
Tube Feeding FAQ’s
Respecting Choices Brochure Sept 04
Respecting Choices Brochure November 04
AD Class flier

End of Life Values-Choices Checklist

Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:52:26 -0800

English

The End of Life Values-Choices Checklist is a form that lets you think about end of life choices and values, and commit them to writing.

If you prefer, you can download the End of Life Values-Choices Checklist in Microsoft Word (.doc) format.

Spanish

The End of Life Values-Choices Checklist is a form that lets you think about end of life choices and values, and commit them to writing.

If you prefer, you can download the End of Life Values-Choices Checklist in Microsoft Word (.doc) format.

Hospice of Petaluma

Fri, 11 May 2007 15:35:02 -0700

Rooted in community, Hospice of Petaluma has been providing quality, compassionate hospice care and grief services to individuals and families facing life-threatening illness or the death of a loved one since 1977. Hospice of Petaluma and our sister program, Memorial Hospice, are a service of the St. Joseph Health System, a Ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. Patients and families receive interdisciplinary patient care with individualized attention to nursing, psychosocial, spiritual and practical needs that may arise at the end of life. Hospice services are provided by professional staff and specially trained caregiver and grief support volunteers. Volunteer trainings are held in the spring and fall with both daytime and evening classes.

Memorial Hospice

Fri, 11 May 2007 15:34:02 -0700

Rooted in community, Memorial Hospice has been providing quality, compassionate hospice care and grief services to individuals and families facing life-threatening illness or the death of a loved one since 1997. Memorial Hospice and our sister program, Hospice of Petaluma, are a service of the St. Joseph Health System, a Ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange.

Patients and families receive interdisciplinary patient care with individualized attention to nursing, psychosocial, spiritual and practical needs that may arise at the end of life. Memorial Hospice is proud of serving the Spanish-speaking community with our Latino Grief Services program and bi-lingual patient care staff. Hospice services are provided by professional staff and specially trained caregiver and grief support volunteers. Volunteer trainings are held in the spring and fall with both daytime and evening classes.

Midwest Bioethics Center/Center for Practical Bioethics

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:37:40 -0700

The Center for Practical Bioethics, formerly known as the Midwest Bioethics Center, has a 20 year history of raising and responding to ethical issues in health and healthcare and works specifically in the following areas. Researchers looking for Midwest Bioethics Center publications should contact the Center for Practical Bioethics.

Clinical and Organizational Ethics: solving moral problems by educating and empowering healthcare professionals and their institutions, advocating for patients’ rights, training ethics committees, and supporting change though ethics education and leadership.

Respecting Choices

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:32:00 -0800

*Respecting Choices* is a model training program for facilitators who become resident experts in Advance Care Planning at health facilities and has a strong focus on organizational policy. The goal of the program is to build respect for choices into each organization's policies. A variety of posters, workbooks and planning guides are available in English and Spanish for work with consumers. The program was developed by the Gunderson Lutheran Medical Foundation (LaCrosse,Wis) in the early 1990s. It has consistently demonstrated success with follow back studies showing 85% of patients have completed advance directives and that families felt that their loved ones wishes were honored through the ending of life as a result.

Taking Care: Ethical Caregiving in our Aging Society

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:54:45 -0800

TAKING CARE: ETHICAL CAREGIVINGIn OUR AGING SOCIETY published by The President’s Council on Bioethics
Washington, D.C., September 2005
Preface
The President’s Council on Bioethics was created by President George W. Bush on November 28, 2001 to advise the President on bioethical issues related to advances in biomedical science and technology. Taking Care addresses the ethical challenges of caregiving in our rapidly aging society, with special attention to the care of people with dementia. The report purpose is to provide a humanly rich account of the caregiving dilemmas social, familial, and personal, and to offer some important ethical guidelines for the care of persons who can no longer care for themselves.