National Healthcare Decisions Day: Taking the Time to Plan #PlanNowOptum

National Healthcare Decisions Day: Taking the Time to Plan

Tips on How to Begin Necessary Conversations with Loved Ones about Their End of Life Care Wishes

By Dr. James Mittelberger

 

April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day – A day set aside to encourage all of us to discuss important advance planning end of life health care wishes.  It’s an opportunity to begin the process of documenting those wishes before a stressful health crisis arises.

 

It can be tough to get started.  It may even feel a bit awkward, but powerful conversations with family members today can assure end-of-life preferences are honored and reduce stress and uncertainty in the future.  Planning today can help ensure that your loved ones will receive the treatments they want, and avoid the care that they don’t want at the end of life.

According to a national survey by The Conversation Project, more than 90% of the people think it’s important to talk about their loved ones’ and their own wishes for end-of-life care, but fewer than 30% of people have actually had the conversation.   Many people simply haven’t gotten around to taking the necessary steps to crystallize what they want and to formalize it.  Sometimes it’s because people don’t know how to start the conversation with their loved ones. 

A great way to start is by thinking about what is most important to you if you or your loved ones were facing a life threatening or progressive illness.   You would start planning and reflecting on what you and your loved ones would want, expressing those desires and having the thoughtful conversation.   After all, no one wants to be scrambling for paperwork, evaluating care choices or putting their families through uncertainty.

Here are simple steps to begin the conversation and planning for important end of life health care decisions:  

·          Start with your loved ones. Honest communication can help families avoid the stress of guessing what a family member would have wanted. You may find that you and your loved ones may see some things differently. That’s okay. Be open with each other and focus on really understanding the views of those you love.

·          Think about what is most important to you. What are your greatest fears, hopes and goals? Who would you prefer to make decisions on your behalf with your physicians if you could not? How sure are you of your choices? Do you want your chosen proxy to have leeway to change your decisions? Discuss these topics with your loved ones to reach a shared understanding of your desires.

·          Make it official. Once you’ve had the conversation, formalize your decisions by putting them in writing. There are several ways. An advance directive can help describe your medical wishes when you no longer can. Special medical orders can be developed with your doctor. Finally, a health care proxy identifies your health care agent—the person you trust to act on your behalf if you are unable to make decisions or communicate your wishes.

·          Get help. You can find valuable resources to help you think through these issues and make decisions more manageable at theconversationproject.org and agingwithdignity.org.

This is something that takes time, but well worth it.  I have seen firsthand the sense of peace, calm and satisfaction families experience knowing their loved ones wishes are granted giving you more precious and memorable time to spend with your loving family member.

 

Dr. James Mittelberger, is Chief Medical Officer of Optum Palliative and Hospice Care, who is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Hospice and Palliative Medicine

Click to listen to Dr. Mittelberger's interview: National Healthcare Decisions Day (12 minute interview)

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Cars Should Have Names Too

My family has had a habit of naming their cars. It all started with my cousin’s car Trudy. I am not sure why her name was Trudy, but it fit her personality perfectly. Trudy was an older clunker hatchback. It reminded me of a little old lady with her own little quirks. Trudy was an awesome car. My cousin and I went on many adventures in Trudy. You had to talk nicely to her and sometimes say Come on Trudy to get her to go or start. She was well loved by everyone who rode in her. My cousin was a college student at the time she owned Trudy. I miss her.  My other cousin had a car who was named Sherman. He had started staying with my grandma after my grandpa had passed away. He was there to keep an eye on our grandma and to keep her company. I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house so I got to hang out with my cousin a lot. I always liked that, because we are twelve years apart in age, so growing up I didn’t see him as much as my other cousins. I would see him on occasion at family things. He used to run me to the store and take me to Mc Donald’s and other places. Sherman always smelled like fabric softener. I never did figure out why that was. I think he had some in the trunk.

 My aunt had a Neon who was named Janis. Janis became my cousin’s car and we drove to Texas in Janis. She was of course named after Janis Joplin. My mom had a car named Gracie too. The car my mom drove when Noah was really little was named The Green Car. The Green Car was the best car ever. Noah named it because it was green. The Green Car was always in the stories I would make up about a little boy named Noah. Do you name your car?

Check out my post about naming your car and learn about some of the famous named cars in movies and TV.

Renting a Car for Road Trips is a New Trend

I have noticed a new travel trend. People have started renting cars to drive on road trips. My friends recently rented a car to drive 19 hours. I assumed they would have flown. It was interesting to hear about. I didn't think about renting a car to drive somewhere. There have been a couple times I have gone on vacation with a group of people and we rented a van. It was mostly because no one had a car that everyone could fit in. Instead of taking multiple cars it was a great option. It's actually a really smart idea for many reasons. Mileage is probably the biggest reason people rent cars for car travel.

It's definitely something I will consider for my next road trip. It would be fun to take an SUV and have extra room. I am not really van person unless it's a really comfortable one. After going on different road trips in vans I know that fifteen person passenger vans are really uncomfortable with a lot of people. I need space to spread out. I would have to remember what the rental car looks like. Sometimes I forget those things. I am pretty good at it. Renting a car can be much cheaper than flying or cheaper in the long run if you have an older car or one with car trouble.

Check out my post about renting a car for road trips for more reasons you should consider it. 

I Wish I had Satellite Radio Growing Up

When I was young, we had a whole bunch of tapes that we listened to. I remember searching for tapes in the glove box so we could sing our favorite songs. If our tapes broke it was definitely a tragedy. My sister had a habit of taping over things too. It would make me so sad.  She even would tape over home movies and my concerts, but that's another story. Days of our Lives was not more important than our childhood memories.

Sometimes we listened to talk radio like Dr. Laura or Dick Crum. We would be in the middle of listening and it would start to fade out. We wouldn't be able to listen if the next area didn't carry that show. We couldn't Google it on our phones. We were SOL. Now there's satellite radio. Everything is done by satellite and it doesn't matter where you are, you can get the stations. You don't have to play guessing games where the stations are. You can find whatever you want to listen to. You don't have to worry about your sister taping over your music. Satellite radio is something I think everyone needs.

Check out my post about all the benefits of satellite radio.