Have you ever thought about how long you might live? Have you ever wondered what it will be like when you get old, whatever old is? Have you ever truly realized that you won't live forever, that this life is just for a time but that it can be lived meaningfully and completely? Or, let's look at life another way...

If your voice becomes silent because of accident or illness, how will it be heard? How will you make known what you want at that time? How will people-loved ones, EMT's, doctors, friends-know what you want when something you haven't foreseen, or something you don't want, happens? Have you entrusted someone to speak for you, to make decisions for you, to advocate for you when you cannot do so for yourself?

Things happen in life. Age is a factor in life but not the only one. There are many things beyond our control that keep life interesting, mysterious, and unpredictable, but which also have the power to make us appreciate the life that we have and the life that we hope for. Things happen to all of us, no matter our age or genetics or location or job, and if we've not prepared for those potentialities, those possibilities, then we leave our lives, our well-being up to strangers or processes or regulations that likely will not embody or reflect our will, our hopes, our legacy.

LifeSpring's Advance Care Team (LifeACT) can help you make your life your own, can help you feel secure and at peace about who you are, what you have lived, what you want to happen on your behalf when something critical happens to you, and what you want your legacy to be. Which then makes your life a gift to all to whom you matter. Because you will have taken the worry of making critical decisions out of their hands and, in turn, will have placed it back into their hands as simply a gift to be received and honored. We're not talking about anything new here. We're only reminding you of what you already know deep down inside you about Life. We simply believe it's vital to talk about Life in its fullness, which necessarily involves considering death. And this is important because it's unlikely that we'd have a meaning-full sense of Life - our individual lives - without a meaning-full sense that life is not forever, at least not in this form. When you understand Life as a wonderfully unique but temporary experience, then you can make every moment and mile count.

Your life is God's gift to you. We can help you make it a gift to everyone in your life. And that will give them peace.

We would be happy to come and talk with you and/or your agency about this. Just call or email us:

(405)329-4545 (or toll free: 844-329-4545)
harry.smith@lifespringhomecare.com

 

We've found these resources listed below to be helpful as you consider these questions. Just click on the links to get to them.

• “Want control at the end of your life? Here's what you need” is the title of an excellent article on the subject. Here's how you get to it:
  www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/decisions-future-documents-need-2/
• The American Bar Association has put together a comprehensive, very user-friendly document called the Consumer's Toolkit for Health Care Advance Planning. It is a pdf and you can download it. Here's how to get to it:
  www.americanbar.org/groups/law_aging/resources/consumer_s_toolkit_for_health_care_advance_planning.html
• The Institute for Healthcare Improvement offers several excellent, very easy-to-use conversation starter kits, one designed to talk with your family, and another to talk with your doctor. Both can be downloaded. Just go to:
  www.theconversationproject.org
• The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) has a number of helpful resources. Just go to either:
  www.nhpco.org or www.caringinfo.org
• For an Oklahoma Medical Power of Attorney, which will give you only health care powers of attorney:
  www.powerofattorney.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/oklahoma-medical-power-of-attorney.pdf
• For an Oklahoma Durable Power of Attorney and DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), go to:
  www.erg-asi.com/html/forms.php?mode=download&file
• The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) features a very helpful resource called, Having the Conversation about Health, Legal, Financial and End-of-Life Issues. It can be found at:
  www.n4a.org/files/conversations.pdf
• A POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) is a document that a patient completes with her/his physician when s/he appears to be in her/his last year of life. You will find the form and an extensive discussion of it here:
  www.okpolst.com
• It has been said that the POLST and an Advance Directive for Health Care together are fool-proof for end-of-life wishes. Find an Oklahoma Advance Directive at:
  www.okbar.org/public/Brochures/advancedDirectiveForHealthCare.aspx
• And if it's just an Oklahoma DNR that you want:
  www.digitalprairie.ok.gov/cdm/ref/collection/stgovpub/id/72721
• Two other great resources are: the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, www.naela.org, and Compassion & Choices, www.compassionandchoices.org.