Advanced Directives

Advanced Directives are a great planning tool for our loved ones.  They are used to communicate one's wishes when incapacitated in some way offering insight into the patients wishes if they are unable to communicate with Doctors about their care.  Many people draw these up when they make a Will.

I first heard of Advanced Directives being used for those who suffer from Chronic Mental Illness’ at a Keep the Promise meeting (Link) last year and thought the idea was brilliant! 

These are wonderful tools to have in place for both our loved ones and for caregivers. Our loved ones may not want to be restrained, secluded, have certain medicines used and they may have experience with treatments that work very well for them that they would like the medical community to know of if they are incapacitated or have a medical emergency.

This tool eliminates a lot of the stress and guesswork for the caregiver and the patient in an emergency.  Caregivers are allowed, in a crisis, to just care for their loved ones vs. trying to navigate what the patient says they want while in crisis vs. what they would want when out of crisis.

I urge you to have your loved one contact legal aid in their state and/or a private attorney to have their Advanced Directive drawn-up.  Make sure copies are available and accessible at the attorney’s office, with your loved one (at home) and one on hand for you if you are their emergency contact.

We offer a talk on this topic.  If you’d like information on the next talk please email info@turtlesandlemonade.com or visit this link.