Make Your Healthcare Wishes Known: An Advance Care Planning Q&A

   

Project GRACE 
Exec. Dir. Tracy Christner

Suncoast Hospice and our affiliate Project GRACE join in recognizing National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16. This day is an important reminder to us all to communicate and document the medical care we would want or not want if we could no longer speak for ourselves because of a life-limiting illness or injury.

Project GRACE’s staff and trained facilitators are available throughout Tampa Bay to assist with advance care planning. Tracy Christner, Project GRACE executive director, encourages everyone to discuss and plan their healthcare wishes with their families and healthcare providers so their wishes may be honored.

Here Tracy answers a few frequently asked questions about advance care planning and Project GRACE’s services:

Q: What is advance care planning and how long does the process take?

A: Advance care planning is a thoughtful process of planning for future medical care. It involves education, reflection, communication and documentation. The process is different for each individual and how long it takes depends on your specific situation. Some individuals may be able to sit down with their loved ones and begin a dialogue and others may need some guidance. Studies show that families who engage in the advance care planning process have less stress, confusion and guilt about their decisions.

Project GRACE can provide tools and educational resources to guide individuals through the process. We also have more than 100 trained facilitators in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties to help families facilitate these important conversations. The Project GRACE website, www.projectgrace.org, is a good place to start for current information, news articles and easy-to-download living wills in English and Spanish.

Q: What are advance directives?

A: Advance care planning terminology can vary from state to state and among various healthcare organizations. In the state of Florida, an advance directive is defined as a written or oral statement that allows you to convey your decisions about end-of-life care ahead of time. Many documents are considered advance directives: for example, living wills, designation of healthcare surrogate, medical durable power of attorney and organ/tissue donation.

The most important advance directive is the designation of healthcare surrogate. This document allows you to name another person to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to make them yourself. You want to be sure your healthcare surrogate is easily accessible and a person who you can count on to honor and communicate your personal wishes even if they do not agree with them. Most people choose a relative or friend who knows them best.

Q: What are some ways to bring up the subject of advance care planning with family members or friends?

A: Open and honest conversation with family and friends about your values, spiritual beliefs and hopes and fears about the final stages of your life are the best way to begin. Some conversation starters include newspaper and magazine articles, movies, the recent death of a loved one or well-known person, sermons, television shows or recent medical check-ups.

Have you made your healthcare wishes known? Contact Project GRACE at 727-536-7364 to help you get started.

Inside the Role of a Care Center Senior Staff Nurse

Audlyn Lord, R.N.

Audlyn Lord recently celebrated her 10th anniversary working for Suncoast Hospice. She has served as a senior staff nurse (SSN) at our Suncoast Hospice Care Center South Pinellas since it opened a year ago. She spends long, busy days on the floor seeing her patients and families and supervising the hospice aides. She’s the only SSN with direct patient care responsibilities.

“When I come in I receive a report from a registered nurse (RN) who’s here. Our care team has meetings to discuss each patient. I assess and reassess my patients and give them their medications. In between I counsel, supervise, provide support and do admissions,” Audlyn said.

Audlyn chats with Suncoast Hospice volunteer Suzanne Verhulst

Audlyn has also served as a SSN with a facility-based care team, was a RN with Suncoast Hospice Care Center Mid-Pinellas and worked on a home-based care team. She enjoys the smaller size of the South Pinellas Care Center and the close connection she makes with the people in her care.

“This care center is a very intimate setting with 12 patients. Sometimes in the hallway you see family members in tears and wanting to talk, so you stop and give them hugs and, if necessary, get the social workers or chaplains for them. Sometimes you go into patients’ rooms and there are six people inside, so you stay and chat. This is the most private time in their lives and you get to share that with them. That’s quite an honor,” she said.

Loving Her Life’s Work

Audlyn was born in the West Indies and lived in Canada for 30 years, where she helped start a palliative care team at a nursing home. She moved to Florida in 2000 and worked for one facility before coming on board with Suncoast Hospice. “This is what I was meant to do – take care of patients and their families through the dying process. I love what I do,” Audlyn said.

In her position she sees tremendous hope from hospice. “Isn’t the h in hospice for hope? Hope that you’ve made peace with your loved ones, hope that you’ve completed your bucket list, hope that you’ve accomplished whatever your dreams are,” she said.

Audlyn believes in spreading the word about hospice care; she has done an in-service on living wills at her church. “Especially in African–American communities, they hear the word hospice and they panic. Hospice is not only about death and dying. We must continue to educate people about everything that we have to offer,” she said.

Are you interested in a job at Suncoast Hospice? Check out our latest job listings.