National Healthcare Decisions Day 2010: Have You Had the Talk?
April 16, 2010
The third annual National Healthcare Decisions Day is set for April 16, 2010 in Kansas City and all over the country.
The day is designed to help individuals and families make practical preparations for end-of-life decisions, including the designation of someone to speak for you when you can no longer speak for yourself.
The Center for Practical Bioethics offers a tool to promote those discussions, a revised and updated version of Caring Conversations.
“April 16 is intended to be a social prompt,” says Myra Christopher, president and CEO of the Center for Practical Bioethics, “to give people a reason to have conversations that are too often delayed or postponed. And yes, the connection is with death and taxes.”
“It’s a critical opportunity for patients and families to have the comfort that their wishes and values will be represented,” says Marshall Scott, chaplain and manager for spiritual wellness at Saint Luke’s South Hospital in Overland Park, KS. “We know what the patient wants and we can follow those wishes.”
Christopher says the rallying cry is “Have You Had the Talk?”
"We believe strongly that the focus ought not to be on documents; instead, the focus needs to be on communication.”
The Center is offering promotional materials for education programs at various organizations. For an order form, click here.
Links:
