National Healthcare Decision Day

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), along with other national, state and community organizations, is leading a massive effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making—an effort that has culminated in the formal designation of April 16, 2010 as National Healthcare Decisions Day.

As an organization committed to increasing awareness of advance care planning, NHPCO is providing information and tools for the public to talk about their wishes with family, friends and healthcare providers, and complete written advance directives.

“National Healthcare Decisions Day is an important day of awareness and education, focused on encouraging everyone, including those who are healthy and in the prime of their life, to think about and document care treatment preferences before a crisis,” said J. Donald Schumacher, NHPCO president/CEO. “Hospice and palliative care providers are important sources of information for advance care planning and many of our member organizations are actively working to promote awareness and provide advance directives on April 16.”

Advance directives allow you to document your end-of-life wishes in the event that you are terminally ill or critically injured and unable to talk or communicate. Help ensure your loved ones and healthcare providers know how to honor your care decisions by filling out these important documents today.

NHPCO’s Caring Connections has free, state-specific advance directive forms and information on advance care planning that can be downloaded from its website www.caringinfo.org/stateaddownload. People can also contact the HelpLine at 1-800-658-8898.

Additionally, NHPCO’s Caring Connections and Google Health™ came together last year to increase the availability and accessibility of advance care planning information and resources online.

A feature on Google Health enables users to download a free, state-specific advance directive and store the scanned documents securely online. This will help overcome a common barrier in emergency healthcare situations, where it can be difficult to access a patient’s advance directive. Google Health is a secure, online Personal Health Record (PHR) that allows consumers to store, organize, and share important healthcare information. A link to Google Health is available on the www.caringinfo.org homepage.

For additional information about National Healthcare Decision Day and efforts throughout the country, visit www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org.