April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day
On
April 15, Americans will file their taxes. April 16, following
Benjamin Franklin’s saying, “nothing can be said to be certain,
except death and taxes,” is a day for health care decision planning.
Each year, National
Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) is observed the day after
tax day. NHDD is a day of education and awareness, aimed at
encouraging adults to create an advance health care plan.
Every
adult is at risk of being unable to make health care decisions.
An advance health care directive is the document that helps an adult
name someone to make health care decisions when the person cannot do
so. In addition to creating planning documents, this is a good time
to think and talk about the different kinds of health care and
treatment one wants and does not want. Meaningful conversations
about health care values generally lead to higher quality health care
decisions and reduce family stress when a health care crisis
arises.
Aging
and legal service providers are urged to create community events for
NHDD. Ideas for community events can be found on the website for
National
Healthcare Decisions Day.
The
following resources were recently updated:
NCLER
provides free case consultation assistance for attorneys and
professionals seeking more information to help older adults. Topics
include: Advance Planning, Elder Abuse, Guardianship, Health/LTSS,
Economic Security, Supported Decision-Making, Consumer Protection,
and Housing. Please contact ConsultNCLER@acl.hhs.gov for
assistance.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment