Assisted Living Community Welcomes Health Care Planning Discussions
Stonebridge of Burlington, an assisted living community and Honoring Choices Community Partner, is leading the way in helping residents and their families open the door to health care planning discussions.
As of July 1, 2015, all assisted living residences are required to ask residents at a pre-assessment screening whether they have “a legal representative or any other person who has decision-making authority for the resident, and the scope of his or her authority.” Residents and families can indicate that they have a Health Care Agent, a Guardian, an Attorney-in fact or Conservator and share documents, but the conversation can end there.
The staff at Stonebridge is going beyond these initial questions to welcome thoughtful health care planning discussions using the Honoring Choices Who’s Your Agent?℠ Program and Educational Tool Kit. For instance, the staff can help a resident understand the benefits of choosing a person you trust as your Health Care Agent in a Health Care Proxy, to advocate for you and speak with your doctors if you become unable to make medical decisions for yourself. If the resident is interested, the staff can also offer, at no cost, the Honoring Choices Health Care Proxy Instructions and Form, along with other templates that will help outline both medical and financial wishes, if you are or become unable to make them yourself.
The Stonebridge staff reports that the “Who’s Your Agent?” program information and tools give their residents and their families a framework to think about the benefits of health care planning and a way to open up a dialogue with family members. Further, all of the Stonebridge department heads and the nursing staff are familiar with the program and welcome residents asking questions or wanting to explore a conversation.
Additionally, Stonebridge has introduced the “Who’s your Agent?” program to all residents at a monthly all-residents meeting as part of their everyday commitment to empower adults to understand and make health care choices that are right for that person as an individual. “What makes Stonebridge such a special place is the personal service that we provide,” says Executive Director Mary Lou Doyle. “We take pride in offering a variety of educational programs to our staff, to the general public and to our residents and their families. These tools provided by the Who’s Your Agent program fit in well with our protocol to provide ongoing recommendations for healthcare, and give us additional support that we can leverage to help provide the best possible care for health, and support through every phase of life.”