Among the most important choices a person can make in life are those affecting its final chapters, yet relatively few people give serious attention to advance care planning.
Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice invites members of the mountain communities to visit its Evergreen offices on National Healthcare Decisions Day and learn how to guide their medical treatment in the event they can no longer make healthcare decisions.
On Wednesday, April 16, area residents are encouraged to drop by Mount Evans between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and pick up advance directives forms. Advance directives determine what life-prolonging treatments doctors may apply should a person be unable to communicate their wishes directly. Mount Evans social workers will be on hand to explain the document and offer expert assistance to anyone who asks.
At 4:30 that afternoon, Golden attorney and Registered Nurse Janine Guillen will present “Advance Care Planning and How it Affects YOU!” The hour-long seminar will begin with a discussion of Medical Durable Power of Attorney, which legally confers medical and personal decision-making authority to a specified party should one suffer an incapacitating medical condition.
Guillen, who serves on the Mount Evans board of directors, will also provide a tutorial on advance directives, plus lessons on other legal protections such as CPR directives and Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (MOST). Finally, she’ll address Five Wishes, an increasingly popular type of living will covering a host of medical and personal instructions in straightforward language and a relatively simple format.
“As a result of National Healthcare Decisions Day, many more people in our community can be expected to have thoughtful conversations about their healthcare decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known,” said Sallie Wandling, senior director of community relations at Mount Evans. “Fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient, and healthcare providers and facilities will be better equipped to honor patient wishes when the time comes to do so.”
The Mount Evans offices are located at 3081 Bergen Peak Drive in Evergreen. To learn more, call Mount Evans at 303-674-6400, or visit the National Healthcare Decision Day website at
http://www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org
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Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice provides the mountain community with compassionate and experienced care during challenging times. 
