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For Immediate Release
September 17, 2007
For Further Information
Erin Weller
(212) 308-1414
AGS Foundation for Health in Aging Releases Easy-to-Understand Advance Directives Tip Sheet for Older Americans
Thinking about the kind of medical care you would choose in life-or-death situations can be uncomfortable. The questions that arise are difficult: Would you want to be kept alive with the help of a respirator, for example? If you were terminally ill and near death, would you choose to be resuscitated if your heart stopped beating? What medical treatment would you choose if you had a stroke that left you completely dependent upon other people?
While difficult, experts say it's important to answer these questions, and share your answers with others, so you get the kind of care you want in such situations -- even if you're unable to communicate.
"The best way to ensure you get the kind of care that reflects your choices and values is to do some advance care planning and prepare an "advance directive" that lets doctors and other healthcare professionals know what kind of treatment you do and don't want if you're ever too sick to make decisions for yourself," says David Casarett, MD, MA, a member of the American Geriatrics Society's Ethics and Steering Committees, Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School or Medicine, and a Research Career Development Awardee at the VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion in Philadelphia, PA. "You don't need an attorney to prepare an advance directive and it doesn't have to be complicated."
To help older adults and others prepare advance directives, the American Geriatrics Society's Foundation for Health in Aging has released a comprehensive and easy-to-understand tip sheet, "A Guide to Advance Directives for Older Adults." The tip sheet explains why advance directives are critically important, what an advance directive should include, where to find free advance directive forms and complete them, where to keep completed forms, and how to revise them.
The tip sheet is the latest in the FHA's series of easily understandable health and wellness tip sheets for older adults. Posted on the Foundation's public education Web site the tip sheets, like all other information on the site, can be printed, copied and shared at no cost. Available at www.healthinaging.org/public_education/latest_tip_sheets.php, available tip sheets cover immunization for older adults, winter safety, emergency preparedness for older people, travel safety, avoiding caregiver burnout, and other subjects of importance to seniors and their caregivers and loved ones.
ABOUT THE AGS
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (www.americangeriatrics.org) is a nationwide, not-for-profit association of geriatrics health care professionals dedicated to improving the health, independence, and quality of life of all older people. The Society supports this mission through activities in clinical practice, professional and public education, research, and public policy. With an active membership of over 6,500 health care professionals, the Society has become a pivotal force in shaping attitudes, policies, and practices in geriatric medicine.
ABOUT THE FHA
In 1999, the American Geriatrics Society reached beyond its traditional role as a professional medical society and launched the AGS Foundation for Health in Aging (FHA). The FHA aims to build a bridge between geriatrics health care professionals and the public, and advocate on behalf of older adults and their special needs: wellness and preventive care, self-responsibility and independence, and connections to family and community. The FHA champions initiatives in public education, clinical research, and public policy that advance the principles and practice of geriatrics medicine; educate policy makers and the public on the health care needs and concerns of older adults; support aging research that reduces disability and frailty, and improves quality of life and health outcomes; encourage older adults to be effective advocates for their own health care; and help family members and caregivers take better care of their older loved ones and themselves.
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