{"id":29,"date":"2012-04-16T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T08:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/?p=29"},"modified":"2012-04-16T15:07:14","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T15:07:14","slug":"blogging-for-national-healthcare-decisions-day-a-rally-for-our-loved-ones-and-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/blogging-for-national-healthcare-decisions-day-a-rally-for-our-loved-ones-and-ourselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogging for National Healthcare Decisions Day: A Rally for Our Loved Ones and Ourselves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>NOTE:<\/strong> In honor of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhdd.org\/\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD)<\/span><\/a>, April 16, I\u2019m taking a break from blogging this week and spending my writing time with my loved ones.\u00a0 I hope that this guest post, by Nathan Kottkamp, Founder and Chair of NHDD, will inspire you to think about the conversations we should all be having with our own loved ones about an uncomfortable but important topic \u2013 planning for when we die.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><\/em><br \/>\nAre you one of the 80% of Americans who haven\u2019t completed an Advanced Directive yet? We\u2019ve all struggled with how to get started on this topic \u2013 and there are plenty of reasons why we resist:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fear<\/li>\n<li>Uncertainty<\/li>\n<li>Not sure how to start<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t know what\u2019s legally binding<\/li>\n<li>Worried I\u2019ll hurt someone\u2019s feelings<\/li>\n<li>Just haven\u2019t had the time to do it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That\u2019s why we recognize April 16 as National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) \u2013 a movement designed to inspire, educate, and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning.\u00a0 Put another way, NHDD is a day for all adults to mark their calendars, <strong>have the talk<\/strong>, and document the talk with an advance directive.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Regardless of your own reasons not acting already, you might find your way to start the conversation by watching this awesome three and a half minute video at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhdd.org\/\">www.nhdd.org<\/a>. It\u2019s proof that it takes only a few minutes to start a conversation with your loved ones about advance care planning\u2014a conversation that affects people for a lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>After the goosebumps settle down from watching the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhdd.org\/\">video<\/a>, here are some specific things you can do for NHDD:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lead by example.\u00a0 <\/strong>Schedule time with your loved ones (on or before April 16) to \u201cHave the Talk\u201d and complete your own <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhdd.org\/public-resources\">advance directive<\/a>. There are many tools, including free forms, you can use to walk you through the process and make your wishes known; access them through the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhdd.org\/public-resources\">NHDD Public Resources page.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Encourage your loved ones and friends to learn more about advance directives and to complete their advance directives. You can forward this link: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhdd.org\/\">www.nhdd.org<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Share your advance directive with your healthcare providers and make sure it is on file in the event it is needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Already had the conversation with your loved ones, but want to do more?\u00a0<\/strong> Here a few suggestions to rally support for NHDD and encourage even more action:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Like the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nationalhealthcaredecisionsday\">NHDD Facebook fan page<\/a> and share it with your Facebook friends<\/li>\n<li>On Twitter? Follow <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/NHDD\">@NHDD<\/a> and share the information with your followers, such as: Just 5 days to #NHDD, when will you have the talk? @NHDD can help: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhdd.org\/\">www.nhdd.org<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Share NHDD with your professional contacts on <a title=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups?about=&amp;gid=3764115&amp;trk=anet_ug_grppro\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups?about=&amp;gid=3764115&amp;trk=anet_ug_grppro\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Send an email to your friends, staff, colleagues, lodge\/social club members, and\/or house of worship, telling them that you are participating in NHDD and encouraging them to do the same.\u00a0 Share the information above with them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please use and share the resources available through the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhdd.org\/\">NHDD website<\/a> and encourage and empower us all to make our healthcare decisions now for whenever they will need to be known.<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Kottkamp<br \/>\nFounder and Chair<br \/>\nNational Healthcare Decisions Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NOTE: In honor of National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD), April 16, I\u2019m taking a break from blogging this week and spending my writing time with my loved ones.\u00a0 I hope that this guest post, by Nathan Kottkamp, Founder and Chair &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/blogging-for-national-healthcare-decisions-day-a-rally-for-our-loved-ones-and-ourselves\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthinaging.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}