Making Choices Michigan – Resources

Advance Directive Documents

We recommend taking advantage of a facilitated conversation to start discussing your goals and preferences for future healthcare. A facilitator will guide you through the process to help you identify a patient advocate and what is important to you to live a good life. The Advance Directive has been approved as a “common document” by many Michigan hospitals.

*** To get started, download the documents below by clicking on the title link. ***

Interested in sharing with the people you serve? Please feel free to print and download our general information sheet:

Information Handout

Advance Care Planning Overview> | Ver: Spanish> | Vietnamese> | Arabic>

Provides more detailed instruction on choosing your Patient Advocate(s) role, how/when the role goes into effect, and review/storage options.

Advance Directive> | Ver: Spanish> | Vietnamese> | Arabic>

(A.K.A. Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare): Legal document to name your Patient Advocate(s) and gives express permission to the Advocate to follow your goals of care (including starting, not starting, or stopping life support treatment). Pages A1-9; Includes Treatment Preferences (Goals of Care): Used for well adults (18+) and those with stable chronic illness, this form describes care goals for those with acute neurologic illness/injury; gives general preferences regarding CPR (it is NOT a DNR form!). Pages B1-2.

Wallet Card> | Ver: Spanish>

Complete and place behind Michigan driver’s license/ID card to notify EMS of your Patient Advocate name and AD location.

We understand that documenting your values and preferences for treatment is important, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak. In conjunction with the documents linked above, consider referencing these resources:

Respecting Choices: Proactive Care Planning for COVID-19

The Conversation Project: Being Prepared in the Times of COVID-19

ACP Resource Page

Download Your Advance Directive Forms Today!

Training Programs

Check out our upcoming ACP training dates:

First Steps^®ACP Facilitator Training

Community volunteers and healthcare professionals are invited to participate in this evidence-based training to become a certified Advance Care Planning Facilitator. Our training is a two-part course consisting of four to six hours of online instruction and a full day of training with didactic and role play experience. Participants will learn effective communication and interview skills to empower individuals through the process of discussing, deciding, and documenting their healthcare preferences.

Stay tuned for more ACP Facilitator training dates, join our waitlist for our next First Steps® ACP Facilitator Training class by emailing acp@mihin.org

Next Steps^™(NS) Facilitator Course

The Next Steps™ (NS) Facilitator course is meant to provide information and skill development to assist adults who need to make healthcare decisions specific to their distinct disease(s) with consideration to possible situations that may arise from the specific disease trajectory. During the course education and role-playing assist attendees in learning communication techniques to promote person centered ACP conversations and instruction on how to customize wishes clear enough to guide decision making when that time comes.

Suggested Attendees to the NS™ Facilitator Course

Qualified, typically healthcare, professionals with knowledge of disease processes interested in delivering a more in-depth ACP Facilitation.

If interested in the NS Facilitator Course, you can register at https://choreographedhealthsolutions.com/next-steps-facilitator-course/

Advanced Steps^®ACP Facilitator Training

Advanced Steps Advance Care Planning conversations are initiated as a component of quality end-of-life care for frail elders and those whose death in the next 12 months would not be unexpected. The Advance Steps conversation is focused on goals of care to make timely, proactive, and specific end-of-life decisions.

If interested in the AS Facilitator Course, you may register at https://choreographedhealthsolutions.com/advanced-steps-facilitator-course/

Upcoming Webinars:

Stay tuned & check back frequently for new webinar training events

Community Events

Check out what events are happening in your community:

From general advance care planning basics, to being a caregiver, to green burial – we collaborate with community partners to cover everything you need to know to be empowered to advocate for your own healthcare – wherever you are on your life’s journey.

Virtual Discussions

Death Over Dessert
Led by Jill and Ken Peirce, MCM Facilitators
Date: Postponed (TBD)
Registration: Email acp@mihin.org

As we emerge from our long pandemic lockdown and all the events of the last 16 months, it is a good time to reflect on life, the changes we have experienced, and the differences we want to make going forward.  We couldn’t escape the numbers as there were daily tallies of new COVID cases and deaths.  Media bombarded us with reports of racial injustice and politics.  Perhaps as you reflect you have an awareness of how quickly life changes, how fragile life is, how easily you adapted, or how difficult change was.  Talking about Death Over Dessert gives us a safe place to discuss our reactions to our experiences, considering what makes a good life and how a good life ultimately leads us to a good death.

Monthly Newsletters

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June 2021

May 2021

March/April 2021

January 2021

March 2020: Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

Resources for Participants

The journey of life has many twists and turns. No matter where you find yourself along the path, these resources are valuable tools.

Resources

Death Over Dinner >

WGVU Special: Advance Care Planning >

I’m Young And Healthy: Why Do I Need An Advance Health Care Directive? >

Atul Gawande – Being Mortal >

The Conversation Project >

Talk of a Lifetime >

Choosing a Hospice Provider >

Patient Advocate Guidance

Being an advocate is an honor and an important job. Learn more about being an effective patient advocate, should you be asked to speak on someone else’s behalf.

A Patient Advocate (also known as a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care) is often mistaken for a similar term – Durable Power of Attorney. A Durable Power of Attorney is responsible for your belongings and finances if you should not be able to speak for yourself, while a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare (DPOAH), or patient advocate, makes decisions about your medical care on your behalf.

To be an effective patient advocate it is essential to take the time to have meaningful conversations with the person for whom you are an advocate what their preferences are for healthcare. If you are in a situation where you have to speak on their behalf you will be asked to share what the person would want, not what you think they would want. You must also be able to advocate for the person’s healthcare decisions even though you may not personally agree with those decisions.

Finally, to become a patient advocate you must accept the role in writing.

Patient Advocate Resources

Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk >

Being mortal. Medicine and what matters in the end >

Palliative Care, a Different Voice in Healthcare – TEDxDesMoines >

Futile care and advance directives. >

Most people want to die at home, but many land in hospitals getting unwanted care >

Advance Care Planning is a Process >

Five Tips for Families Facing End-of-Life Care >

Patient Advocate Guide >

Empower Your Workforce

Providing resources for your employees to learn about, and engage in, advance care planning results in an empowered workforce who are advocates for their own healthcare.

Today’s workforce is diverse, consisting of employees of a wide range of ages, health status, and knowledge about how they can take the drivers’ seat when it comes to making healthcare decisions.

Incorporating this service into your wellness and benefits programs includes educating and empowering your workforce through “lunch and learns,” trainings, and providing opportunities for them to have conversations with our team to discuss, decide, and document their healthcare preferences.

When people are proactive about their healthcare planning and have discussed their goals and preferences in advance, they are better prepared for navigating decisions about prescriptions, treatments, and care options, resulting in an optimization of healthcare services and cost.

Employer Resources

Learn more about the impacts of proactive healthcare planning for your team >

Incorporating ACP into your employee wellness program increase patient-centered care and optimizes healthcare costs >

Healthcare Professionals

Learn more about providing this proactive and empowering planning service to your patients.

Helping patients proactively discuss their goals and preferences for healthcare has many benefits, however, we know that there are also barriers to having these conversations in a healthcare setting. Limited time, resources, staffing, and processes can hinder your ability to provide this service to your patients. Our professional staff can provide training for your team to have the skills and confidence to have these empowering conversations with your patients.

We also know that sometimes people are more comfortable having these conversations outside of a healthcare setting. Our proactive model provides this service to your patients by meeting them “where they are” both literally and figuratively. We currently facilitate conversations in client’s homes, in assisted care facilities, at community centers, at places of worship, and more.

Interested in having your staff trained to become advance care planning facilitators? Visit our training page for upcoming dates, give us a call, or fill out the form below, to learn more about how we can support your team and your patients.

Resources For Healthcare Professionals

ACP Printable Information Handout >

The SHARE approach. Essential steps of shared decision making >

Shared Decision Making Serious Illness >

Serious Illness Care: Adriadne Labs >

Vital Talk: Clinicians >

Coalition to Transform ACP >

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization >

Quantity and Quality of Life: Duties of Care in Life-Limiting Illness >

REQUEST MORE INFORMATION

If you are interested in partnering with us, please send an email to acp@mihin.org and we will reach out to you shortly.

Videos

Check out the rest of our videos

Further Education

Are you interested in learning more about how to advocate for your health? Explore our additional resources below.

Whether you are just getting started with your plan or are seeking more detailed information on topics such as green burial options, document storage, and retrieval, or your options for organ donation – this is your place to access resources. Take your time browsing through the numerous articles and videos – we’re sure you’ll leave feeling empowered.

Videos

Advance Care Planning at Cancer and Hematology Centers of Western Michigan

Atul Gawande: Being Mortal >

BBC IDEAS: Beta – Why We Need to Face Our Mortality >

Bill Moyers: On Our Own Terms >

Consider The Conversation: A Documentary on a Taboo Subject >

Fox17: Have You Had The Talk? >

“I’m Dying to Talk with You” >

PBS Frontline: Facing Death >

PBS News Hour: How Do You Want to Die? A Mission to Make Death Part of Popular Conversation >

Showtime: Time of Death >

The Undertaking >