April 16 is National Health Care Decisions Day - and when Niagara Hospice will provide information and tools to talk about health care wishes with family, friends and health care providers. The public is invited to the Niagara Hospice Administrative Building at 4675 Sunset Drive in Lockport for a free advance care planning program to help ensure health care wishes are followed. The event begins at 3 p.m.
The National Health Care Decisions Day theme is: "It always seems too early, until it's too late."
Cheryl Ferguson, Niagara Hospice medical social worker, will explain health care proxies (HCP), living wills, do not resuscitate (DNR) and medical orders for life-sustaining treatment (MOLST). The program is free and open to the community.
"As a result of National Health Care Decisions Day, many more people in our community can be expected to have thoughtful conversations about their health care decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known," Ferguson said. "Fewer families and health care providers will have to struggle with making difficult health care decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient, and health care providers and facilities will be better equipped to address advance health care planning issues before a crisis and be better able to honor patient wishes when the time comes to do so."
Niagara Hospice has served over 25,000 Niagara County residents and their families since 1988. For more information, call 716-439-4417 or visit
www.NiagaraHospice.org.
