ADVANCE CARE PLANNING RESOURCES

Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a process that helps you think about, talk about, and write down your wishes and choices for future health care—should you become unable to speak for yourself.

This may not be easy, but the conversation and written plan is important. Here's why:

Talking through your goals for end-of-life care (out loud, with someone else) helps your loved ones better understand your choices. The written plan names the person you want to speak for you if you can’t speak for yourself.

READ: The ACP 3: Think About It, Talk About It, Write It Down

More than anything, you are giving your loved ones a sense of comfort knowing how to properly honor your wishes.

My Life My Choices seeks to promote Advance Care Planning by empowering all South Carolinians to make these critical decisions. We work with health care providers to increase awareness about Advance Care Planning, and provide resources to help you:

1. THINK about what matters most to you; what are your values and beliefs and how do they impact the care you might want.

2. TALK about it with your family, other loved ones, and doctors so that they can see why your choices are important to you. This will help them if they have to make decisions for your care when you cannot speak for yourself.

3. WRITE down your choices to help everyone know your wishes and increase their ability to honor those wishes.

Advance care planning is not a single conversation, or a one-time signing of forms, but is for you to live in a way that is meaningful to you, for as long as you live.

• You can ALWAYS change your mind, even after you put plans into writing.

• Life changes. You should review your plans from time to time, to make sure they still express your wishes as your situation changes.

We recommend that you review your advance care plan once per year or after:

• A decade of life passes, as preferences change over time;

• The death of a loved one, as this is time for reflection of ‘what matters most’;

• A divorce, to revisit your selected health care power of attorney;

• A serious diagnosis, so you may focus on the new goals related to your care;

• A significant decline in your functionality.

By visiting this website, you have already started the process of advance care planning. Talking about your thoughts and choices is the most important step.

Remember, this is an ongoing conversation and things may change over time. That is perfectly okay.

It’s your life, make your health care choices known. Start your advance care planning today. It’s never too early, until it’s too late.

Talking with your loved ones about your health care choices can be difficult.

These conversation guides can help you have ‘the conversation’ with the important people in your life about your – or their – wishes for care through the end of life.

Download your starter kits today!

• NEW! Ariadne Labs and The Conversation Project Resource: Workbook - What Matters to Me

• Download and Print: ACP Guide for Starting a Conversation with Loved Ones

• Focus and gather your thoughts: ”What Matters Most” bubble map

• UPDATED! View and Download: Conversation Guides for Getting Started

• Play the Hello Game! (19 Things We Learned When We Played Hello)

• AARP’s Planning Guide for Families

• The ACP 3: Think About It, Talk About It, Write It Down

Audio version: Ellen Goodman reads The Conversation Starter Kit (English). Listen now!

It is important to talk to your doctors, loved ones, and faith leaders about your health care choices.

The guides below provide help and support in having these critical conversations with those who matter most to you.

Don’t wait for a medical crisis; talking now makes it easier to make vital medical decisions when the time comes.

Download this important information today!

• Talking To Those Who Matter: Your Loved Ones

• Talking To Those Who Matter: Your Faith Leaders

• Talking To Those Who Matter: Your Doctor

• UPDATED FOR 2021! The Conversation Project: Conversation Starter Guide (English)

• ACTUALIZADO PARA 2021! The Conversation Project: Guía para iniciar la conversación (Español)

After you have had conversations with your loved ones about your health care choices, it is time to choose someone who will speak for you if you are unable to speak for yourself.

You can do this by completing a South Carolina Health Care Power of Attorney form. This process is also known as choosing a proxy.

The Conversation Project’s guide will help you to choose a proxy and/or serve as a proxy for someone else.

• UPDATED FOR 2021! The Conversation Project: Choosing a Health Care Proxy (English)

• ACTUALIZADO PARA 2021! The Conversation Project: Guía para elegir un representante de atención médica (Español)

• South Carolina Health Care Power of Attorney

For many South Carolinians, faith plays an important role in their choices for future care.

This guide by The Conversation Project is designed to help churches and other faith groups support members in having conversations about health care choices with their loved ones and their doctors.

• Getting Started Guide for Congregations (English)

• Getting Started Guide for Congregations (Spanish)
  
  
  

The purpose of South Carolina Health Care Decisions Month is to inspire, educate, and empower YOU to take control of end-of-life health care decisions.

The goal is to encourage you to express your wishes to others regarding health care advance directives, and to document those wishes to make sure providers and facilities respect them, whatever they may be.

This April, health care facilities, health care professionals, religious leaders, the legal community, and others across the state will be participating in a collective effort to highlight the importance of advance care planning and to provide tools for making these decisions.

• Sign the Pledge to Participate in Health Care Decisions Month

• 2021 Health Care Decisions Month Toolkit

• Sample Health Care Decisions Month op-ed