You plan for careers, weddings, and retirement.
Why not plan for your future health care?
Advance Care Planning helps you
plan for your future care and
get care aligned with your wishes.
Don’t take chances
Video by SpeakUp Canada
Be open, be ready, be heard
Video by ACP Australia
Talking about it
Video by ACP Australia
Being chosen as a substitute decision-maker
Video by ACP Australia
Advance Care Planning is a way that helps you and those closest to you prepare to make health-care decisions aligned with your wishes.
Advance Care Planning involves talking with others about your future health-care wishes.
Advance Care Planning involves deciding who can make health-care decisions for you if you cannot.
Serious illness or injury can happen to anyone of us, at any time.
If this happened to you,..
- Who would you want to make health-care decisions for you, if you cannot speak for yourself?
- What health-care decisions would you want them to make for you?
Advance Care Planning helps you and those close to you be prepared to make health-care decisions aligned with your wishes.
Advance Care Planning can help you:
- reflect on your values, beliefs and wishes;
- decide who can make decisions for you;
- prepare you to make difficult health-care decisions when needed;
- get the care that is right for you.
Advance Care Planning can help those close to you including your Substitute Decision Maker:
- know the types of care and treatments you would want to receive if you are seriously ill and the ones you wouldn’t want
- make the right health-care decisions for you, if needed.
Advance Care Planning can help others who care for you:
- support your decisions
- feel less stressed about the care decisions they need to make for you
Advance Care Planning is for Everyone!
All adults able to communicate their wishes and capable of making decisions should do Advance Care Planning.
You should do Advance Care Planning as early as possible if you:
- those close to you don’t know what matters most to you in life and the type of care you would accept or refuse to receive;
- those close to you have different views or beliefs from your own;
- have a serious illness such as heart disease, cancer, advanced kidney disease;
- have been experiencing loss of memory or have been diagnosed with early stage dementia.
The sooner you start your Advance Care Planning, the better.
It’s never too early until it’s too late.
Advance Care Planning is not a one-time thing.
You should review your Advance Care Plan if you experience changes in health status or a significant life event.
Simple ways to start:
Think
Talk
Talk
Discuss your thoughts with:
• the people you trust; and
• your health-care providers.
Plan
Plan
Record your wishes
Share your plan with:
• those closest to you; and
• your health-care providers
Review
Review whenever there is a change in you health, personal life or living situation
• advance care planning is not a one-time event
• it is important to revisit your plan and make adjustments that reflect your values and wishes
• as long as you are able to understand and communicate, you will be able to make your own health-care decisions
• you can change your advance care plan at any time
For more information, please visit our
Walter talks about his experience with Advance Care Planning and how it helped his family members know about his wishes and values
