National Healthcare Decisions Day

Today, April 16, 2014, Hospice of Southern Illinois celebrates National Healthcare Decisions Day by spreading the word to the communities we serve about planning now for peace of mind later. Planning is what we do. We plan our work schedules, social lives, meetings, dinner dates, when we can afford a new pair of shoes, what time to work out and even for special events. If we plan for all of this and more, why not plan for peace of mind? This is the question that really gets left behind in the day-to-day shuffle. Let’s get one more thing checked off that to do list: prepare an advance directive, an important healthcare decision.

An advance directive is a fancy way of saying preparing legal documents that “direct” what to do in “advance” before a healthcare crisis strikes. In short, an advance directive includes two legal documents that protect your right to refuse or request medical treatment in the event you lose the ability to make decisions for yourself. The two legal documents include the “Illinois Power of Attorney for Health Care” and “Illinois Living Will.”

People are encouraged to get a business-card sized piece of paper and put it in a purse or wallet. On that card note a name, who the healthcare power of attorney is, their contact information and any other information you see fit. Keep it simple. In the time of healthcare crisis, this allows people around you who may not know your healthcare decisions to know who to call or what to do. Great idea!  

{Wallet Card Example}

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization provides great information to assist in learning about making these decisions and help navigate through those legal documents: http://www.caringinfo.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3284. Furthermore, the Illinois Department of Public Health website, http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/books/advin.htm, provides the documents that can be used to make these decisions. So, take one hour to make these decisions, share them with those you care about and give yourself (and others) peace of mind. Hospice of Southern Illinois also has a team who is able to help if you need assistance with any steps along the way.  

Help us share, educate, and reach out by subscribing to our blog and suggesting it to friends who will spread our message: Hospice of Southern Illinois is here to teach you what hospice is, what we are about, and what we can do for you and your loved ones. No one has to go through the dying process alone. Hospice of Southern Illinois can help.

Live well, laugh often, and love much,

Christine Juehne

Hospice of Southern Illinois

Community Education

1-800-233-1708

www.hospice.org

November is National Hospice Month

Hospice of Southern Illinois Helps Community Learn About Special Care Hospice Provides

November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and hospices across the country are reaching out to raise awareness about important care issues for people coping with life-limiting illness. Throughout the month of November, organizations across the nation are hosting activities that focus on celebrating this unique system of support and the benefits provided by the loving care of hospice. Hospice of Southern Illinois is committed to bringing important information to the communities we serve, so we are encouraging everyone to participate in the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organizations’ social media campaign to raise awareness about what hospice is and what hospice is to them. To participate, employees, community leaders, and general public should take a photo of themselves holding a sheet of paper that says, “Hospice is… ________” and fill in the blank with a word that describes what hospice is to them. After taking the photo, post it on their personal Facebook Page and tag Hospice of Southern Illinois in the post or comment section so we can see it on the Hospice of Southern Illinois’ Facebook Page. Don’t forget to use the hash tag #hospicemonth to take part in being a hospice advocate for National Hospice and Palliative Care Month 2013!

“Every year, more than 1.65 million people living with a life-limiting illness receive care from hospice and palliative care providers in this country,” said J. Donald Schumacher, President and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “These highly-trained professionals don’t only provide quality medical care. They work to make sure patients and families find dignity, respect, and love during life’s most difficult journey.”

Hospice is more than traditional healthcare. Hospice and palliative care programs provide pain management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and spiritual care to patients and their families when a cure is not possible. Hospice and palliative care combines the highest level of quality medical care with the emotional and spiritual support that families need most when facing the end of life.

“After working at Hospice of Southern Illinois for many years, I figured I knew what hospice was. It was not until I saw Hospice of Southern Illinois’ nurses, volunteers, and social workers in action with my own family that I realized what it really stood for. It brought forward a whole new understanding of end-of-life care. As my supervisor always says, ‘You may remember how smart or how pretty someone is, but you will always remember how kind someone is.’ When I saw the special attention and kindness my own co-workers provided my loved one, I fully understood hospice from that point forward.” said Christine Juehne, Print and Social Media Coordinator at Hospice of Southern Illinois.

Additional information about hospice, palliative care, and advance care planning is available from Hospice of Southern Illinois, your community not-for-profit hospice, at www.hospice.org. NHPCO’s Caring Connections offers information and resources for professionals and consumers at www.caringinfo.org. 

Advance Directives, DNR, POLST: What does it all mean?

Advance Directives, DNR, POLST: What does it all mean?



     It can be difficult and overwhelming to discuss end of life choices. Hospice of Southern Illinois can help you navigate the tangled web of information surrounding all these issues and be a resource for people who need assistance making healthcare decisions. It is best to do this sooner, rather than later, so you are not called upon to make these decisions during a time of crisis. When people hear the terms Advanced Directives, or DNR, they tend to think of death and terrible circumstances. It doesn’t have to be that way. Planning for your future should make it easier for you and your family to have some control and to have a plan at a difficult time. Let us help by defining some of the terms and also to explain the newest type of Advance Directive called the POLST form.

     Advanced Care Planning involves discussing your wishes for end of life care and defining a set of legal documents stating those wishes. This includes a Healthcare Power of Attorney (POA) and a Living Will. These are also called Advance Directives. These documents clarify what you or your loved one would want to happen, if you became critically ill. In other words, if you should stop breathing or your heart would stop, what would you want done to you. Not everyone is comfortable discussing these issues. They should be discussed with your physician. You should understand what you are talking about and when these documents become effective. Among the forms being discussed are the Do Not Resuscitate Form (DNR) and a newer form called the POLST form. DNR forms differ from state to state and primarily deal with the patient’s wishes if they have no pulse (their heart stops). It directs the health care providers to either Do or Not Do CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) in the event of death.  POLST stands for Physician’s Order for Life Sustaining Treatment. It is becoming widely accepted in many states.  The purpose of developing the new POLST form was twofold: First, to standardize a DNR form from state to state that would be universally accepted; Second, to help direct care before CPR is needed, and to know the wishes of the patient at a time of medical crisis. All healthcare professionals in Illinois are now being taught how to discuss, help implement and accept the POLST form. It will eventually replace the DNR form but is just becoming known in this region. If you have a DNR form you do not need to have a POLST form, but you may be asked about it.

     The DNR form is still widely available and it is still being accepted as a legal document.  However, it limits the authority to act to a time when the patient actually dies, in other words, when their heart stops. It does not give instructions if you are critically ill, or for instance, you might require long term ventilation support and/or tube feeding/artificial food and hydration to survive.  We would like to explain the new POLST form in more detail.

·         The first difference is that it has one section (A) for CPR;

·         The second section (B) is for Medical Interventions and the extent you wish –(If you are critically ill but still have a pulse) to be treated.  It defines the following terms/levels of care;  

      - Comfort Measures to relieve pain and suffering;

      - Somewhere in the middle, you may want “Limited Additional Intervention” for IV Fluids and less invasive airway support like CPAP or BiPap, (external devices that assist with breathing);

     -  Or would you want to be Intubated and Mechanical Ventilation started; You would likely be sent to the Intensive Care Unit and everything would be done, per your wishes;

·         The 3^rd section (C) allows you to choose if you would want artificial food by feeding tube or just to be fed by mouth if possible, No Artificial Feeding, if you cannot take food by mouth;

·         Section D is for documentation of the person who signs the form: yourself, Parent, Health Care Power of Attorney; or Surrogate decision maker;

·         Section E if for the Attending Physician to sign. This document is not complete unless your Attending Doctor signs it;

·         The back of the form is optional and revolves around other forms you may have and who helped the patient fill out the form.

     When completed, any or all of your Advance Directives should be filled out and kept in a place where you can get to them quickly. Make copies and give one to your physician, your family members and possibly your closest friends.

     For more information or for help filling out these forms: Go to the following links:

http://www.caringinfo.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3287

http://www.cecc.info/resource-links/physicians-order-for-lifesustaining-treatment-polst

http://www.caringinfo.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?/pageid=3383

    

     Help us share, educate, and reach out by subscribing to our blog and suggesting it to friends who will spread our message: Hospice of Southern Illinois is here to teach you what hospice is, what we are about, and what we can do for you and your loved ones. No one has to go through the dying process alone. Hospice of Southern Illinois can help.