The Hospice of Wrangell organized a weekend of community education forums on Jan. 11 and 12, to help Wrangell residents learn how to "get their ducks in a row" before they pass away. Some of the forums included a discussion on funeral services available at the Ketchikan Mortuary, estate planning and writing a will, and a panel discussion on spiritual concerns regarding the afterlife made up of several Wrangell preachers.
One of the discussions was lead by Erin Matthes of the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium on the importance of advance directives.
"Why is it important to have a directive?" Matthes asked. "We think about advance care planning not just about planning for your death but planning for your life and identifying your preferences for how you would want that to look if you had control over it."
Matthes described an advance directive as a "living will," a document laying out one's preferences for healthcare as death nears. An advance directive says what kind of healthcare one would like to receive, who is in charge of making those decisions if one is physically or mentally incapacitated, and helps one determine their priorities for quality of life versus the length of their life.
"So one of the things an advance directive really supports the individual in is defining your values at end of life," Matthes said. "Some of us have really thought about these things a lot, some of us sort of avoid that and that's fine and healthy, it is what it is. But if you haven't spent a lot of time thinking about how you want things to look, and what is really important to you, this document actually supports that process."
Matthes handed out copies of an advance healthcare directive provided by SEARHC, to give an example of what the document looks like. The directive lays out two healthcare agents, other people selected to make decisions on behalf of the directive's signatory, and asks several questions about what kind of medical care one wants to receive at the end of their life. There are also questions about what to do with one's body upon death, how long they want their life artificially prolonged, and other requests one might have such as music to be played or people they would like to see. The directive also lays out instructions for making the document legal, either by being signed in front of a notary or two witnesses.
"You don't need to carry around a copy with you everywhere you travel," Matthes said. "It's nice to have something in your wallet that just says I have an advance directive and this is my healthcare agent's contact information, and my primary care agent's contact information, and my primary physician's name. That would indicate where you receive your healthcare."
A copy of SEARHC's advance directive form can be found on their website, http://www.searhc.org. Matthes suggested that people visit Alaska Law Help, http://www.alaskalawhelp.org, for more detailed information about advance directives.
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