First Monday of Every Month Designated for
Five Wishes Program

Members of the McLeod Volunteer Auxiliary who have been trained in helping individuals with advance care planning are available to the public the first Monday of each month in the McLeod Plaza Vestibule from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.. The theme of the advance care planning program at McLeod is Giving Your Family the Greatest Gift.

The McLeod Volunteers are using a document from the Aging with Dignity Organization called Five Wishes. The booklets were purchased with a grant from the McLeod Health Foundation in conjunction with The Duke Endowment.

The Five Wishes document helps individuals express how they want to be treated if they are seriously ill and unable to speak for themselves.  It is unique among all other living will and health agent forms because it looks to all of a person's needs: medical, personal, emotional and spiritual.  Five Wishes also encourages discussing your wishes with your family and physician.

Five Wishes lets your family and doctors know:

• Which person you want to make health care decisions for you when you can't make them.
• The kind of medical treatment you want or don't want.
• How comfortable you want to be.
• How you want people to treat you.
• What you want your loved ones to know.

According to Aging with Dignity, Five Wishes is changing the way America talks about and plans for care at the end of life.  Nearly six million copies of the document are circulating throughout the nation.  In addition, more than 10,000 organizations are distributing this revolutionary document, including churches, synagogues, hospices, hospitals, physician and law offices, and social service agencies.  Many employers are providing Five Wishes to their employees, to help them plan for themselves and have those delicate discussions with their aging parents.

The document speaks to people in their own language, not in "doctor speak" or "lawyer talk."  It can be used in the living room instead of the emergency room.  And it helps families talk with their physician about a subject that before was too hard to face.
Most health care professionals understand they have a duty to listen to the wishes of their patients no matter how they are expressed, states the organization.

At McLeod Health, caring is a core value. Dealing with difficult crisis situations every day has made the staff at McLeod aware of how uncertain life can be. Because the staff sees first hand families taken aback by tragedy every day, McLeod would like for individuals and families to be knowledgeable of a way they can care for themselves and their family.

In order to help individuals inform their families of their health care wishes, McLeod endorsed use of the Five Wishes for advance care planning.

By completing the Five Wishes, individuals are taking a proactive step to ensure their family is aware of their health care desires in the event they are unable to speak for themselves. This frees an individual’s family of the responsibility to make decisions on their behalf and gives them the peace of mind that they followed the person’s wishes.

Five Wishes was introduced and originally distributed with support from a generous grant by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care.

For more information on the First Monday programs, call the McLeod Volunteer Auxiliary at (843) 777-2082.