My Life My Choices is a program of the South Carolina Coalition for the Care of the Seriously Ill (SCCSI).
What are your end-of-life wishes? Have you talked with anyone else about them? Have you written them down?
We all plan for expected events. Vacations, weddings, the birth of a child. It is just as important to plan for the health care you want to receive in the future.
There are three important steps to declaring your choices for your life…
April is South Carolina Healthcare Decisions Month!
This April, we are urging all of South Carolina to participate in Healthcare Decisions Month:
Our collective effort to highlight the importance of advance care planning, and to provide tools for making these decisions.
It is often the case that advance care planning occurs in a clinical setting. But engagement should expand beyond the healthcare system, however, to meet people where they live, work, and pray.
1. Think About It.
Think about your values, beliefs, and goals… How do they relate to your health care and quality of life?
What matters most to you? Who can you talk with about these important choices? What does it mean to you to “live well”?
Do you have religious or spiritual beliefs that give you support, comfort and guidance?
2. Talk About It.
Talking with loved ones openly and honestly—before a medical crisis happens—gives everyone a shared understanding about what matters most to you at the end of your life.
A conversation starter kit is a useful tool to help you begin the dialogue about your health care desires. We’ve made this tool—and many others—available for free on our resources page.
3. Write It Down.
Now it’s time to decide who will speak for you if you are unable to speak for yourself. Write it down in a South Carolina Health Care Power of Attorney form. Share this document with your loved ones and your doctors.
After you’ve talked it over and completed your advance directive forms, you will be able to rest easier knowing your choices about your life will be carried out the way you want them.
NEW: Doctor Becomes Patient, Shares Experience With Telehealth
Retired family medicine physician, healthcare administrator and longtime telehealth advocate Dr. Richard Foster, of Wadmalaw Island, has been battling pancreatic cancer and for the first time, navigating the healthcare system as a patient.
Read the full article from SCETV here.
Doctor Becomes Patient, Shares Experience with Telehealth
“Several years ago, we began conversations with our patients about advance care planning—getting to know them and their goals and wishes. It was very rewarding—reminding me why I decided to go into medicine in the first place.”
— John Ropp
Palmetto Family Medicine and Senior Care, Hartsville, SC
Latest News
New: Virtual Summit
Request a presentation for your group.
Are you part of a faith group or community organization whose members could benefit from more information about advance care planning? Would you like someone from the My Life My Choices speaker’s bureau to speak at an upcoming event?
Let us know and we will do our best to make it happen!
SCCSI Founding Partners
Thank you to each and every one of our generous sponsors!
Talk to an ambassador.
Clinical champions and community ambassadors throughout South Carolina understand the importance of advance care planning. They know that these conversations can be difficult, but knowing our loved ones’ health care wishes are more important. We thank our champions and ambassadors for supporting My Life My Choices.
Prisma Health Midlands Network
5 Medical Park Rd
Columbia, SC 29203
(803) 434-7000
Tidelands Health
2591 N Fraser St
Georgetown, SC 29440
(843) 546-3410
Agapé Foundation
1800 Paris Ave
Port Royal, SC 29935
(843) 473-6204
AnMed Health
800 N Fant St
Anderson, SC 29621
(864) 512-1000
Hospice and Palliative Care of the Piedmont
408 W Alexander Ave
Greenwood, SC 29646
(864) 227-9393