Download our Make Your Wishes Known brochure, click here. 

Serious illnesses are often unpredictable.

What would you do if you were unable to make health care decisions for yourself?

So many people put off completing an advance directive or living will:

According to Pew Research Center:

• 71 percent of Americans have thought about end-of-life treatment preferences
• 95 percent have heard of a living will
• only 29 percent actually have a living will

Despite recent gains in public awareness of the need for advance care planning, studies indicate that most Americans have not exercised their right to make decisions about their health care in the event that they cannot speak for themselves.

National Healthcare Decisions Day is a reminder of the importance of making your health care wishes known if you become seriously ill and can not speak for yourself.

Exempla Healthcare hospitals and clinics will participate in National Healthcare Decisions Day on Friday, April 16. Each hospital will have an information table set up to encourage patients, families and employees to complete an advance directive.

"As a doctor, I make it a point to stress the importance of advance directives, such as living wills, to my patients," said Lisa Kettering, MD, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital. "I want them to know that they have the power - now - to shape their care if they're ever in a position where they can't make decisions for themselves. Having an advance directive can provide a sense of relief not only for patients, but also for their families and caregivers."

The National Healthcare Decisions Day initiative is a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to ensuring that all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States have the information and opportunity to communicate and document their health care decisions.

Exempla Healthcare has participated in the past and is proud to participate again this year.

At Exempla we respect your decisions about your health care and honor advance directives. Exempla Healthcare hospitals offer the "Five Wishes" document as well as "Your Right to Make Health Care Decisions" to all patients when they register. If you would like to have a copy of these resources, stop by registration at any Exempla Healthcare hospital.

Additional Advance Planning Resources

These resources are made available to assist persons in their personal advance care planning and do not represent an endorsement on behalf of SCLHS or Exempla Healthcare.

Read/download our Make Your Wishes Known brochure, click here. 

• Aging With Dignity - Five Wishes
  • http://www.agingwithdignity.org
• Caring Connections 
  • http://www.caringinfo.org/googlehealth  or http://www.caringinfo.org/stateaddownload 
• Catholic Health Association, - Advance Directives: A Guide to Help You Express Your Health Care Wishes
  • https://servicecenter.chausa.org/ProductCatalog/Product.aspx?ID=510 
• Healthcare Decisions Day
  • http://www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org
• Supportive Care Coalition 
  • http://supportivecarecoalition.org/AdvanceCarePlanning/default.php

Defining Advance Care Planning

• Advance Directive:
  • instructions given by individuals specifying what actions should be taken for their health in the event that they are no longer able to make decisions due to illness or incapacity.
• Living Will:
  • one form of advance directive, leaving instructions for treatment.
• Power of Attorney:
  • is appointed by the individual to make decisions on their behalf when they are incapacitated. 

Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center

200 Exempla Circle
Lafayette, CO 80026
303.689.4000

Exempla Lutheran Medical Center

8300 W. 38th Avenue
Wheat Ridge, Colorado 80033
303.425.4500

Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital