Advance care planning
National Advance Care Planning Day (April 16 annually) brings awareness to the importance of having a personal plan for your health care. Everyone needs a personal plan, but we would like to share the importance for 2SLGBTQIA seniors, due to their increased experience of discrimination in health care settings.
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The First Nations Health Authority explains that Advanced Care Planning is “like having a basket of helpful information that you can reach into when needed”. They share a brochure, Advance Care Planning: Preparing a Basket with What Matters to You, as well as a Your Care, Your Choices workbook as a guide can help you to begin conversations with your family, friends and health care team.
An advance care plan sets out your wishes for a time that you may not be able to tell someone yourself. Fraser Health shares the 5 steps to completing your planning:
Think about what is important to you,
Learn about different medical procedures,
Decide on a substitute decision maker,
Talk about your wishes with your decision maker, and loved ones,
Record your wishes.
Fraser Health made a short video to share those tips: Advance Care Planning - Five Steps .
Advanced planning is an empowering way to ensure that your wishes are honored. Advanced Care Planning in Canada provides resources to get you started on your plan. They share the importance of ensuring that your values and wishes are included in your plan, and that you share them with your family, friends, or decision maker.
There are five important steps to begin planning: think, learn, decide, talk and record.
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Canadian Virtual Hospice has an excellent resource - Advance Care Planning Across Canada - on how to make an advance care plan and help you prepare for important decisions for your future. Made by people who identify as Two-Spirit & LGBTQIA+, we hope this guide will assist Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, Intersex, and all sexual and gender-diverse (SGD) seniors in their planning. It is intended to help you think about what is important to you, what concerns you might have, and who you will want to make decisions for you if a time comes when you can’t make decisions for yourself.
SAGE, a U.S.-based, national advocacy and services organization that’s been looking out for LGBTQ+ elders since 1978, provides a LGBTQ+ Advance Care Planning Toolkit: A step-by-step guide for the LGBTQ+ community in preparing for healthcare needs and end-of-life decisions.
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If you don’t have an advance care plan, and end up in a situation that you can not speak for yourself, the default system in B.C. will be used to contact someone to speak for you.
Northern Health shares the hierarchy that they use - in very specific order - as follows:
Spouse
Adult children
Parents
Siblings
Grandparents
Grandchildren
A relative by birth or adoption
A close friend or someone immediately related by marriage
If a patient hasn’t completed their ACP, these are the people the health care team needs to go to for consent on their behalf. Everyone should be familiar with this list and the rank order.
Many of the seniors in our 2SLGBTQIA+ community don't have children, and may not have a spouse or family to make decisions.
Sometimes we are estranged from our family - and item #7 above, a relative by birth or adoption - is a scary situation.
Therefore it is vital to plan ahead to ensure that your wishes are followed.
If you don’t already have an advance care plan, we encourage you to use Advance Care Planning Day (April 16 annually) to start thinking about what you would like to include, and who you may share it with. If you already have a plan, you may consider if it needs to be updated, as things change in life!
Best wishes today, and in planning for your future,
Dignity Seniors Society.References [In order of use]
First Nations Health Authority: Advance Care Planning
Fraser Health: Advance Care Planning
Advance Care Planning Canada: Advance Care Planning in Canada
Northern Stories: Advance Care Planning takes the guesswork out of your care