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Kathleen Gest: Senior Focus

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October 1, 2011

Senior Focus: Talk about 'what ifs' now

By Kathleen Gest, Local columnist ----

It's hard for people to think about the "what ifs" in their future, but too often health care issues aren't addressed until it's too late.

Completing a health care directive ahead of time is important for everyone older than 18.

The Five Wishes document, recommended by Munson Medical Center, is one such document, also known as a living will. It spells out what you want in case you can't help make the decisions.

Five Wishes is known as the "living will with a heart and soul." You can get help filling it out through the Grand Traverse County Senior Center Network.

"Munson offered a training class for the Five Wishes document, because they felt there was a need to get more people to complete the document," said Lori Wells, Senior Center director.

Five Wishes was originally introduced in 1996 as a Florida-only document, combining a living will and health care power of attorney, in addition to addressing matters of comfort care and spirituality. A national version of Five Wishes was introduced in 1998.

The document is simple, said Jane Dinnen, advance care planning coordinator at Munson Medical Center. "The Five Wishes is now accepted in 42 states and the District of Columbia and for our mobile retirement community, that is often seen as a plus."

The five wishes in the document include:

• Wish 1: The person I want to make care decisions for me when I can't

• Wish 2: The kind of medical treatment I want or don't want

• Wish 3: How comfortable I want to be

• Wish 4: How I want people to treat me

• Wish 5: What I want my loved ones to know

Michigan law requires its citizens to select someone to be their health spokesperson or agent, if they are unable to voice their own decisions. So, it is most important to focus on who you want to speak for you -- who will fight for your health care decisions -- and to make sure that person is willing to accept the responsibility.

"Your health care agent needs to be someone you trust to make decisions using your values, not their own," Dinnen said. "The Michigan statute calls for what is known as substituted judgment. This is the ability to set aside the health care agent's own desires and to substitute the values of the person he/she represents."

The next thing to do -- and equally important -- is to tell your agent what you want them to know: the kind of care you do want, the kind you don't want and the health quality in which you wish to live the rest of your life.

"It's also important that people understand it's a document that is used only if you can't make the decisions yourself," Wells said.

Advance care planning is an ongoing process. Munson's approach to the document recognizes that different conversations are needed at different times in our lives. As healthy adults, we need to think about the consequences of a sudden injury or illness. Another change might come if there's a diagnosis of a chronic, life-limiting illness. Possibly, the last conversation on our wishes is held when we can no longer live an independent life.

My final advice: Do not wait to decide how you want to live -- or die -- until you are no longer able to make that decision.

If you need help in completing Five Wishes or have questions, call either Lori Wells at the Senior Center at 922-4911, email at lwells@tcseniorcenter.com or contact Advance Care Planning at Munson Medical Center.

Kathleen Bellaw Gest is a local freelance writer. For more about the Traverse City Senior Center, go to www.tcseniorcenter.com.

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