We are part of The Trust Project.
We didn’t expect a pandemic to disrupt the world the way it did, and many people didn’t consider the burden they could potentially place on an emergency contact to make health care decisions for them that were never discussed.
If we normalized conversations about care planning as often as we communicate our emergency contact information, this would become standard and we could narrow existing health literacy gaps and elevate care for patients and caregivers, everywhere.
National Patient Advocate Foundation’s (NPAF) Be A Hero, Make A Plan campaign helped my family and I navigate this new normal and anticipate unforeseen health circumstances. We accessed resources out there to help. We learned where to start and how to communicate our needs.
We need to call on our community and healthcare leaders to integrate care planning as an essential part of care. This will ease the burden on individuals and families and improve relationships between patient and providers, knowing that there is a plan in place to take care of them, in the event they can no longer care for themselves.
For more information, please visit the NPAF website at: Campaign: Be A Hero, Make A Plan - National Patient Advocate Foundation
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Toni Kay Mangskau, Rochester
