Peace of Mind for Tomorrow: A Guide to Advance Care Planning
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Thinking about the end of life can feel difficult, emotional, or overwhelming. Many people avoid these conversations because they are uncomfortable or because they feel too far away to think about. However, planning ahead makes sure that the care you receive later in life reflects who you are, what you value, and what matters most to you.
Hospice care and advance care planning can help patients and families focus on comfort, connection, dignity, and quality of life during a serious illness.
The Key to Success Is Good Planning
When people reflect on what is most important near the end of life, they often focus less on material things like politics and money and more on the people, relationships, and experiences that give life meaning.
But even families who know each other well may not know exactly what a loved one would want during a medical crisis. Clear conversations and written plans can ease uncertainty and help loved ones make decisions with greater confidence.
End-of-life planning is an important part of an overall life plan. Just as people plan for education, career, relationships, housing, retirement, and finances, it is helpful to plan for future health care needs and the end of life.
Important planning documents you want to flesh out ahead of time may include:
Advance Directive: A document that describes your healthcare wishes and identifies a person who can make medical decisions if you cannot speak for yourself.
Code Status/MOLST: Medical orders that communicate decisions about CPR and other life-sustaining treatments. Maryland Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST)is a portable and enduring medical order that covers options for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other life-sustaining treatments. The Maryland MOLST form includes that patient’s preference for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intubation, tube feeding and other interventions. This form can be filled out by the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions if the patient hasn’t filled it out themselves.
Living Will: A written statement of your preferences for medical treatment if you are unable to communicate.
Power of Attorney: A legal document naming someone to make financial and/or health care decisions on your behalf, depending on the type of document.
Funeral Plan: Written preferences for services, burial, cremation, and other arrangements.
Will: A legal document explaining how property and assets should be handled after death.
Planning can also include the goals that guide your life, including spiritual beliefs, family relationships, financial priorities, hobbies, retirement plans, and hopes for the future.
Decision-Making Throughout Life
Planning for the end of life can follow the same practical process used for other important life decisions:
Define success.
Set goals.
Take action.
Identify setbacks and make adjustments.
Continue to learn and grow.
Your plans may change over time. Reviewing them after a new diagnosis, a change in health, or a major life event can help ensure they continue to reflect your wishes.
Defining a Successful End of Life
You may find it helpful to ask yourself:
Where would I want to receive care and, if possible, where would I want to die?
Who would I want to care for me if I could no longer care for myself?
What would matter most to me in my final months, weeks, days, or hours?
How would this care be financed?
There are no wrong answers. The goal is to identify what feels most meaningful to you.
Taking Action
Once you have considered your goals, practical next steps may include completing the documents listed above, such as an advanced directive, MOLST, and a living will. It may also include adding end-of-life goals in financial planning, discussing your wishes and plans with loved ones, and talking with friends and family about caregiver preferences and needs.
Written documents are valuable, but conversations are equally important. The people you choose to make decisions for you should understand your values, priorities, and wishes.
How Does Hospice Help With End-of-Life Planning?
Hospice is specialized care focused on comfort, quality of life, and dignity for people living with a life-limiting illness. Hospice care focuses on providing patients with autonomy, dignity, and support whether that be in the form of pain and symptom management, connection with community resources, or emotional and spiritual resources and guidance. They can even provide support for family members and caregivers as needed.
Hospice is a service, not simply a location. Hospice care can be provided wherever a patient lives, including a private home, nursing home, assisted living community, hospital, or hospice house. It can help patients and families have thoughtful conversations about goals of care, identify practical needs, and make decisions that are consistent with the patient’s wishes.
Some patients live longer than six months while receiving hospice care. They may continue hospice services if they remain eligible based on disease progression and an ongoing need for hospice support. If a person no longer meets eligibility criteria, they may be discharged from hospice and can be reevaluated later if their condition changes.
Hospice Care at Frederick Health
The best care setting depends on the patient’s needs, available caregivers, safety, and personal preferences. Frederick Health Hospice provides additional expertise in pain and symptom management, access to enhanced patient benefits such as medications, and grief support for families. We care for patients wherever they call “home”—most often in their own home or a family member’s home, but also in assisted living facilities, nursing homes, hospitals, or Kline Hospice House. At Kline Hospice House, patients receive care from an on-site caregiver 24 hours a day, with continued support and oversight from the hospice team of nurses, social workers, home health aides, spiritual coordinators, and volunteers.
Plan your next step
There is no single right way to approach the end of life. What matters is having the opportunity to think about your wishes and share them with the people who may be supporting or communicating decisions for you.
End-of-life planning is an important part of planning for life. It gives you an opportunity to define what matters most, communicate your wishes, and prepare the people you love to support you. Hospice help ensure that a patient’s goals are respected and that both the patient and their loved ones receive comfort, guidance, and support.
For more information on future planning and hospice care, you can call Frederick Health Hospice at 240-566-3030 or visit frederickhealthhospice.org.
