In conjunction with National Healthcare Decisions Day, Elmcroft Assisted Living and Alzheimer's Care will host an event designed to highlight the importance of advance directives in health care decisions.

Scheduled for Thursday, April 16, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Elmcroft Assisted Living, 101 Brucewood Road (across the street from Sandhills Cinema), the program "Making Advance Directives Work for You," will feature noted eldercare attorney, Jennifer Garner.

"As a result of National Healthcare Decisions Day, many more people in our community can be expected to have thoughtful conversations about their health care decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known," says Diana Barfield, residence director of Elmcroft Assisted Living.

According to Garner, Advance Directives give people a voice in decisions about their medical care when they are unconscious or too ill to communicate. As long as people are able to express their own decisions, advance directives usually will not be used and the patient can accept or refuse any medical treatment. But if serious illness strikes, they may not be able to participate in decisions about their treatment.

As a result, she explains, fewer families and health care providers will have to struggle with making difficult decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient, and health care providers and facilities will be better equipped to address advance health care planning issues before a crisis and be better able to honor patient wishes when the time comes to do so.

The seminar will cover the differences in the types of advance directives, including living wills, medical durable power of attorney, do-not-resuscitate orders; the difference between a health care proxy and a living will and why advance directives are for everyone 18 and up, not just the elderly and chronically ill.

"We know this is a difficult topic for many families to discuss," says Garner, "but making sure we have documented our advance directives ensures us that our wishes will be honored. Advance Directives are also important in that they reduce the burden on family and friends during a difficult time."

Judie Luse, program leader at Elmcroft's Alzheimer's facility explains that preparing advance directives is a gift to those who care to let them know what you want, so they can act on your behalf with the knowledge that they are carrying out your wishes.

"It was the best gift my mother ever gave me," she says, adding that she recently prepared her own advance directives for her son.

The April 16 seminar is free, but space is limited. Register by April 10 by calling Donna Traylor at 639-4580.

National Health Care Decisions Day on April 16, is a nationwide effort to highlight the importance of advance health care decision-making. The goal is to encourage individuals to complete advance directives and to document decisions about their health care in case they are not able to do so later.

For more information about National Health Care Decision Day, visit www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org.