WHO: Mary Washington Healthcare, along with other community, state, and national organizations, is leading an effort to raise awareness of the importance of advanced healthcare decision-making. National Healthcare Decisions Day is recognized each year on April 16, and encourages all adults in the United States to consider their healthcare wishes and to put them in writing in case they ever become unable to communicate.
WHAT: Be prepared by following these key steps:
- Pick your person and make it official. Choose a friend, family member, or other trusted person to make medical decisions on your behalf. We cannot control everything, but we can control who will speak for us. Talk to a friend, a family member, or other trusted person about becoming your medical care decision-maker if you cannot make decisions for yourself.
- Make sure the person you choose knows what is important to you first and foremost. Then, document that person in an official state health care proxy/agent/power of attorney form or an Advance Directive, a term for any written health care instruction that specifies your wishes or names a proxy for you.
- Please provide a copy to your chosen person as well as your Primary Care Physician or healthcare provider. This is extremely helpful should emergency situations arise.
- Talk about it. If you do not say it, they will not know. Open conversations can pave the way to clarity, provide comfort, and bring people together. Your decisions matter!
Helpful links:
To learn more about The Conversation Project, advance directives, and to download the free conversation guides, click here.
About Mary Washington Healthcare:
Mary Washington Healthcare is a fully integrated, regional healthcare system that provides inpatient and outpatient care at over 60 facilities including Mary Washington Hospital, a 471-bed tertiary hospital, Stafford Hospital, a 100-bed community hospital, four emergency departments, and a multi-specialty graduate medical education program. Mary Washington Healthcare is a non-profit health system with a longstanding commitment to provide care regardless of ability to pay. For more information about our services and facilities, visit mwhc.com.
