Advance Directive at any age

Something that’s incredibly important to me as an End of Life Doula is encouraging people to start their planning no matter what their age or medical status. A good entry point into that is completing your Advance Directives, which I have found recently, a lot of doctors and emergency rooms are asking patients if they have one already completed and on file.

A quick recap of what A.D. is, it’s a legally binding document that allows you to pick advocates that can speak on your behalf when you can no longer and allows you the opportunity to list and describe different treatments that you would prefer, not prefer, things that are important to you about being in a medical space. That way doctors and nurses have something to reference when you can’t speak for yourself.

I like to encourage people who are a little younger to think about if you’re traveling and you’re on the road, maybe you have an accident of some sort and you’re taken to an emergency room. This document will ensure that you are treated in the manner in which you would like to be treated. I find it particularly important for the LGBTQIA community. We can list our pronouns, our preferred name, our gender identity, etc.

Completing this form can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on how detailed you want to be and then it’s just on file. It’s a legally binding document you can change anytime you prefer. So it’s not set in stone, but then you have something in writing in case there is an issue or a problem that pops up, you know that you’re covered as far as care is concerned.