National Healthcare Decisions Day is April 15, 2024, and SDSU Extension is encouraging family farm owners to make long-term caregiving decisions.
“National Healthcare Decisions Day is a day to commemorate the importance of advance care planning,” said Leacey Brown, South Dakota State University Extension Gerontology Field Specialist. “Adults of all ages need to discuss advance care planning with their family or friends and complete advance directives.”
These discussions and decisions can be overwhelming, Brown said. To help people understand what to do and how to do it, Brown and Theresa Garren-Grubbs, a clinical assistant professor at the SDSU College of Nursing, have created free educational resources at the SDSU Extension Family Caregiving page.
“You might handle deciding what type of long-term care to buy for a loved one. What do you know about these services? Do you know how your family plans to pay for them?” said Brown.
The United States Department of Agriculture reported that there were 28,300 farm operations in South Dakota. As family farm owners age, they tend to focus on estate planning. Caregiving can get overlooked, having serious legal, financial and emotional implications for families and businesses.
In some cases, families are forced to sell off farm assets to pay caregiving expenses. Brown said before estate planning, families need to talk about health decisions and who will oversee health care if a family member becomes ill or incapacitated.
“The South Dakota Department of Health shows that only 28% of adults have completed an advance directive form,” said Garren-Grubbs. “These forms allow you to provide instructions about your health care or appoint someone to make medical treatment decisions for you when you cannot speak for yourself.”
Advance directives are often for crisis or emergency situations, but they should be created in advance. The earlier families start talking about caregiving the better prepared they will be, especially in situations like a Traumatic Brain Injury, dementia or an accident that leaves people incapacitated.
Discussions are only the first step, she added. Families must get the right paperwork signed and distributed to key people. Once completed, Brown and Garren-Grubbs recommend reviewing advanced directives annually.
Source : sdstate.edu