Advance Care Planning: The importance of thinking about, recording, and sharing your health-care wishes when you can’t speak for yourself
We live in a death-denying culture, yet death is the one certainty for all of us. Therefore, thinking and talking about what we want or don’t want at the end of life is critical. When our loved ones know our wishes, it makes this difficult moment in life easier for everyone.
“Clear health directives can make the difference between a tranquil and tender end-of-life experience and one with conflict and stress,” says Caroline Variath, a registered nurse.
Only one in five Canadians has recorded their end-of-life wishes. It’s a task easily avoided on the to-do list, which is why Dying With Dignity Canada has created a free Advance Care Planning (ACP) Kit. The kit is intended to provoke thinking, conversation, and planning and to encourage communication among you, your loved ones, and your health-care provider.
Clear health directives can make the difference between a tranquil and tender end-of-life experience, and one with conflict and stress.
Once complete, you’ll have a document that clearly states who your Substitute Decision-Maker(s) are, what health-care interventions or treatments you do or do not want, and some direction on starting conversations with your family and your primary health-care provider about your wishes. The wishes and details you create can then be transferred to the specific documents required by the province or territory you live in. This content should be reviewed and updated regularly, but completing the first draft is the most important step.
At Dying With Dignity Canada, part of our mission is to ensure quality end-of-life choice and care through support and education. In addition to the ACP Kit, we have several resources about end-of-life choice, including our Patient Rights Guide, webinars, directories, and information about navigating a request for medical assistance in dying (MAID).
