Health Care Decisions Month: The Call to Action

SCHCDM

Feb 18

Despite recent gains in public awareness of the need for advance care planning (ACP), studies indicate that most Americans have not exercised their right to make decisions about their health care if they cannot speak for themselves. Though most people recognize the importance of advance care planning, very few have taken the steps to communicate and document their future health care wishes.

We encourage statewide participation in National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD), April 16, 2020, as a component of our annual education campaign. This day is historically set aside to inspire, educate, and empower the public and health care providers about the importance of advance care planning.

In South Carolina, however, we are declaring all of April as South Carolina Health Care Decisions Month as this work should not be limited to one day.

This approach provides flexibility for our stakeholders to develop and implement several activities, both large and small.

In the time of “social distancing” we encourage you to use this month as a way to virtually connect with others.

What matters most to you? What are your wishes for the future, and what you would want if you became seriously ill?

Download our ACP Bubble Map to get started! If you want, share yours on social media and tag it #WhatMattersMost.

Use our ACP Bubble Map to answer these questions, and then pick up the phone, start a video chat or send an email—have an open, honest conversation with someone important about #WhatMattersMost.

Not sure how to host an event online? We recommend using Zoom. Find out how. »

There is perhaps no more appropriate time for us to think and talk about these questions than while confronting the realities of a global pandemic.

Our education campaign is meant to encourage people, including health care professionals, to express their goals of care and for their health care providers and facilities to develop supportive processes to ensure every person’s health care is in accordance with their goals, values and preferences—at all stages of life, in all steps of their care.

View the S.C. Health Care Decisions Month Toolkit

We can’t plan for everything, but we can help manage life’s unknowns by talking openly about what matters and what we’d want most if we become seriously ill. Conversations about things we can’t control can actually help give us a sense of control.

A good day tomorrow starts with a good talk today. If you became seriously ill, would the people who matter most really know what matters most to you? Share the kind of care that’s right for you, and what your good days look like—no matter what happens tomorrow.

My Life My Choices provides tools to help South Carolinians understand that making future health care decisions includes much more than deciding what care they would or would not want. It starts with thinking about preferences and clarifying values, talking about care preferences with loved ones and writing down those preferences in an advance directive that you share with your loved ones and your doctors.

Join us this April for South Carolina Health Care Decisions Month by pledging to participate here.

Take the S.C. Health Care Decisions Month Pledge

Best Practice: Crosswalk of South Carolina Advance Care Planning Documents and Laws

Each state has its own laws governing the documents that are recognized as advance directives. Sorting them out can be confusing for the public as well as other professionals. To clarify the various documents, My Life My Choices developed a “Crosswalk” of South Carolina Advance Care Planning Documents and Laws, which provides a summary of the various documents and their attributes.

The preferred advance directive in South Carolina, according to many health care attorneys and health care professionals, is the South Carolina Health Care Power of Attorney, as it covers most situations and is the most flexible.

Resource: Crosswalk of South Carolina Advance Care Planning Documents and Laws

View Toolkit

Take Pledge