ADVANCE CARE PLANNING

You plan ahead for work.
Now plan your personal life.

Start your Advance Care Planning today.

In Hawaii, we get to know each other better by “talking story.” It means comfortable conversations. That’s how Advance Care Planning should be. We take the time to find out about each other’s desires, values and preferences for future care by listening to what’s on each other’s minds.

It involves honest, heartfelt communications.

Advance Care Planning involves more than one, single conversation. Over time, circumstances may change. Ongoing talk story sessions help others better understand and clarify our desires for future care. 

Even if you’re in good health, it’s important to share your wishes because your health status could change suddenly. You don’t have to wait until a health crisis to start Advance Care Planning.  It’s never too early to start  …until it’s too late.

We are happy to foster and support your Advance Care Planning process. Kokua Mau has a comprehensive Workplace Wellness Program with presentations by trained professionals, printed materials and a workbook to walk you through every step of the way.  To learn more about employers and worksite wellness.

It starts with you.

You don’t have to wait for your doctor or someone else to start an Advance Care Planning conversation. You can be the one to initiate the conversation.

You can start the Advance Care Planning Process by first identifying what is important to you. You can ask yourself what is most important to you. This will help make it easier to share your thoughts with your loved ones.

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There are 4 steps
in the Advance Care Planning process.

Click on any step

You can complete each step or choose a friend or co-worker to go through the process with so you have support and motivation as part of your worksite wellness program.  Having good conversations and a completed Advance Care Directive is an important step to minimizing stress – for you and your family.

In the workplace, we all know how important it is to plan ahead. It’s important to also plan ahead in your personal life.

Advance Care Planning is your way of sharing your values and preferences for the kind of care you want if you can no longer speak for yourself.

It covers the things that are important to you and allows you to designate who will be speaking for you to honor those wishes.

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Four steps in the Advance Care Planning process.

You can complete each step or choose a friend or a co-worker to go through the process with you, so you have support and motivation as part of your Advance Care Planning or worksite wellness program.

Having good conversations and a completed Advance Care Directive is an important step to minimizing stress — for you and your family.

Sharing your values and letting others know your preferences for future care is important, especially if you cannot speak for yourself. Talk with the important people in your life about what matters to you.

Decide who you want to have those all-important conversations with and who you would like to speak for you if you can’t make your own healthcare decisions. This might be a spouse, an adult child, a co-worker or a close friend. It’s anyone you can trust to speak for you. You should choose an alternate person as well.

There are many terms for this designated person: health care proxy, health care agent, medical power of attorney or power of attorney for healthcare.

Read more on decide who can speak for you

Determine the type of medical support you would like if you had an incurable, irreversible health condition and you can no longer speak for yourself.

An Advance Healthcare Directive, or Advance Directive for short, is a way for you to be heard by those caring for you.

Advances in medical technology continue to push the limits of what healthcare providers can do to sustain life. There are more options for patients, so you must establish what is important to you. You may wish to stop medical treatment or you may choose care to prolong your life as long as possible.

Read More: Determine your wishes for care

Document your wishes and preferences in writing to ensure they are carried out.

An Advance Healthcare Directive, also called an Advance Directive, is a simple form that requires you to think through different scenarios.

Don’t rush to check off the boxes and fill in the blanks. It may require some soul-searching and heart-to-heart discussions to explore out what you want and don’t want. You can download the Advance Healthcare Directive by clicking here.

Read more: How to document your wishes with your Advance Directive

Discuss and Share your Advance Care Planning decisions so that others will know your preferences. 

Once you have completed your Advance Directive, be sure to share it with your healthcare agent, your doctor, your family members, and your loved ones. This helps ensure your wishes will be honored

Sharing Your Advance Directive

Share your Advance Directive with anyone who potentially has an interest in your care, even with those whom you may not currently have regular contact with right now.

Read more: Discuss and Share