ARK Community Wellness Programs, along with other national, state and community organizations, is participating in an effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making—an effort that has culminated in the formal designation of April 16 as National Healthcare Decisions Day.

On April 16, ARK will begin to celebrate National Healthcare Decisions Day in the CSRA by hosting our first “Let’s Have Dinner and Talk About Death” with a group of local healthcare providers and chaplains to highlight the importance of conversations about what matters most in a medical emergency or end-of-life situation. As a participating organization, ARK Community Wellness will then begin to host monthly dinners and workshops throughout the CSRA to provide information and tools for the public to talk about their wishes with family, friends and healthcare providers, and execute written advance directives (healthcare power of attorney and living will) in accordance with GA state laws. These resources are available at www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org, http://georgiahealthdecisions.org/critical1.html, http://www.gapolst.org/

“As a result of National Healthcare Decisions Day, and the many dinners and workshops we will host throughout the year, many more people in the CSRA can be expected to have thoughtful conversations about their healthcare decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known,” said Amy Holliday, RN, ARK Community Wellness Programs.  “Fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient, and healthcare providers and facilities will be better equipped to address advance healthcare planning issues before a crisis and be better able to honor patient wishes when the time comes to do so.”