Moving into a senior living community is an important transition for residents and their families. Along with deciding where a loved one will live and what level of care they may need, families often begin thinking more seriously about future healthcare decisions.
One important consideration is an advance healthcare directive.
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) explains that advance directives are legal documents that communicate a person’s wishes regarding medical care if they become unable to make or communicate healthcare decisions themselves. NIA identifies a living will and a durable power of attorney for healthcare as two common types of advance directives. Read the National Institute on Aging’s guidance on advance directives
For seniors living in a residential care setting, having this information documented—and knowing where it is stored—can be especially important.
What Is an Advance Healthcare Directive?
An advance healthcare directive provides instructions about a person’s healthcare preferences in the event they are unable to communicate those wishes themselves.
Depending on the type of directive, it may explain a person’s preferences for certain medical treatments or identify someone they have designated to make healthcare decisions on their behalf.
The purpose is straightforward: make your healthcare wishes known before someone else may have to make decisions for you.
Why Advance Directives Matter in Senior Living
A senior living resident may interact with family members, caregivers, physicians, nurses, and emergency medical professionals.
If an emergency occurs and the resident cannot communicate, these individuals may need access to important healthcare information.
Having an advance healthcare directive can provide valuable information about the resident’s wishes and who may be authorized to make healthcare decisions.
But there is another practical consideration that is easy to overlook:
Where is the advance healthcare directive stored?
Having a completed document is important. Being able to locate that document when it is needed is equally practical.
An Advance Healthcare Directive Needs a Reliable Place to Be Stored
Many people keep important documents in a filing cabinet, safe, desk drawer, or with other legal paperwork.
That may work during normal circumstances.
But medical emergencies don’t always happen at home or when family members are nearby.
A senior living resident could be transported to a hospital. A family member who has a copy could be traveling. A physician or caregiver may need information when the person who normally keeps the paperwork is unavailable.
This is why where an advance healthcare directive is stored matters.
The NIA recommends sharing advance directives with appropriate people, including healthcare providers, loved ones, and the person designated to make healthcare decisions. Read the National Institute on Aging’s guidance on advance directives
Where Should You Store an Advance Healthcare Directive?
There isn’t one storage method that works for every family.
Some people keep paper copies at home. Others provide copies to their physician, family members, or other appropriate individuals.
Another option is using a service specifically designed to store an advance healthcare directive and make it accessible when needed.
That’s the role of Legal Directives.
Legal Directives provides secure storage for advance healthcare directives, along with an Emergency Wallet Card that can help identify where a person’s directive is stored.
Instead of relying on someone to remember where a paper document is located, the Legal Directives Medical Access Program provides a centralized place for the directive.
Why Accessibility Matters
Imagine that a senior living resident experiences a medical emergency and cannot communicate.
The family knows an advance healthcare directive exists.
But where is it?
If the document is stored at home, someone may have to locate it. If a family member has the only copy, that person may not be immediately available.
When an advance healthcare directive is stored with Legal Directives, the goal is simple: make the document accessible when it is needed.
The Emergency Wallet Card provides an additional way to identify that the person’s healthcare directive is available through Legal Directives.
Keep Your Information Current
Advance healthcare directives may need to be reviewed when circumstances change.
The NIA recommends reviewing advance directives periodically and after major life changes. Read the National Institute on Aging’s guidance on advance directives
If a directive is updated, it is also important to make sure the current version is the one being stored and referenced.
For someone using Legal Directives, that means keeping the stored directive up to date when a new version is created.
The Bottom Line for Senior Living Residents
An advance healthcare directive is an important document that communicates a person’s healthcare wishes.
But having the document is only part of the equation.
It also needs to be somewhere it can be found when it matters.
Legal Directives provides secure storage for advance healthcare directives and an Emergency Wallet Card designed to help identify where that information is available.
For senior living residents and their families, having a reliable place to store an advance healthcare directive can provide an additional measure of peace of mind.
Source
National Institute on Aging, “Advance Care Planning: Advance Directives for Health Care.” Read the full NIA article