Kelley Clem, RN, MS, Vice President of Clinical Education and Patient Advocacy, Hospice and Palliative Care Buffalo
Advance care planning gives you and your family the opportunity to plan for future medical care, should you become unable to make your own decisions. This can take time and should be made before a health care crisis occurs.
Hospice and Palliative Care Buffalo collaborates with HEALTHeLINK to obtain clinical information on our patients.
Sometimes this information alone is not enough. Medical teams must also have access to advance directives to honor a patient’s wishes, especially at end-of-life. Too often these documents are not easily accessible, placing undo stress on your loved ones.
Meaningful conversations with loved ones and putting a plan into place are only part of the process. HEALTHeLINK is working towards making advance directives electronically available to your health care team, to help ensure your decisions are honored when you can no longer speak for yourself.