New Alliance Devotes Time, Resources for End-of-Life Options
The 9th Annual National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) is April 16, and observed with a number of educational events in the week leading up to NHDD. This year a newly formed Fox Valley Advance Care Planning Partnership (FVACPP) is seeking your help to encourage people to complete Advance Directives. The FVACPP is a collaboration that includes Affinity/Ministry Health, ThedaCare, Mosaic Family Health (formerly UW Family Health Center), and the Advance Care Planning Coalition.
“NHDD was created to inspire, educate and empower the public and healthcare professionals about the importance of advance care planning,” said Teri Metropulos, CSW-MAC, hospice manager for ThedaCare At Home. “We’re excited to collaborate with these organizations to encourage individuals to express their wishes about end-of-life care.”
Statistics show that 60% of individuals want to make sure their loved ones are not burdened by tough end-of-life decisions, yet 56% have not shared their end-of-life wishes to their family members. “NHDD is about human dignity,” continued Metropulos. “Advance care planning is essential to ensure that patients receive care and treatment that reflects their values, beliefs, goals for care and treatment. Having an advance directive in place means peace of mind for the patient, being able to live out his/her final days as desired. It means family can rest assured they are making the decisions their loved one would have wanted. It means healthcare providers won’t have to provide unwanted, expensive, extraordinary treatments with little chance of sustaining life.“
Metropulos noted that additional information about advance directives is available throughout the partner organizations through April 16. She also pointed out one common Advance Directive form is endorsed by all organizations in this partnership. You can find the form at www.FVACPP.org.
For more than 100 years, ThedaCare™ has been committed to finding a better way to deliver serious and complex healthcare to patients throughout Northeast Wisconsin. The organization serves over 200,000 patients annually and employs more than 7,000 healthcare professionals throughout the region. ThedaCare has seven hospitals located in Appleton, Neenah, Berlin, Waupaca, Shawano, New London and Wild Rose as well as 34 clinics in 14 counties. ThedaCare is the first in Wisconsin to be a Mayo Clinic Care Network Member, giving our specialists the ability to consult with Mayo Clinic experts on a patient’s care. ThedaCare is a non-profit healthcare organization with a level II trauma center, comprehensive cancer treatment, stroke and cardiac programs as well as a foundation dedicated to community service. The ThedaCare Regional Cancer Center in Appleton opened in February. For more information, visit www.thedacare.org or follow ThedaCare on Facebook and Twitter.
