Author Archives: CAA

Pandemic Underscores Need for End-of-Life Training

NPR – The COVID-19 pandemic caught most Americans by surprise, showing us the many ways we were not prepared for a widespread health emergency.  At the University of Virginia, two professors of nursing say we should have trained more medical professionals in how to help patients and their families face the end of life. ReadContinue reading “Pandemic Underscores Need for End-of-Life Training”

Get Proactive and Develop a COVID-19 Care Plan

NextAvenue.org – Tom Reynolds jokes that his doctors say he’s the “healthiest sick person we know.” The 71-year-old in Cocoa, Fla. resident has gone through 20 medical procedures. “I have not been a good steward of my body,” he admits. “My wife and I were thinking ‘What if we get the coronavirus?’ We both haveContinue reading “Get Proactive and Develop a COVID-19 Care Plan”

‘No Intubation’ — For Some, COVID-19 Changed Their Living Will

NextAvenue.org -Last month, Minna Buck revised a document specifying her wishes should she become critically ill. “No intubation,” she wrote in large letters on the form, making sure to include the date and her initials. Buck, 91, had been following the news about COVID-19. She knew her chances of surviving a serious bout of theContinue reading “‘No Intubation’ — For Some, COVID-19 Changed Their Living Will”

A Good Life And A Good Death: What Is Palliative Care?

NPR Radio – “He will not die on your watch.” That’s what the family of a patient told Sunita Puri when she was a resident in internal medicine. They were chilling words for the young doctor as she took over the care of a very sick man on the overnight shift. To Puri, the patient,Continue reading “A Good Life And A Good Death: What Is Palliative Care?”

As coronavirus spreads, more people thinking about end-of-life directives 

NBCNews – Many are considering medical instructions, guardianship designations and other legal contingency plans. Even though Jayne Marlink has gone through cancer, a mastectomy, a hysterectomy and several other serious health scares over the last decade, she never felt the urgency to put together an advance health directive advising her son what to do inContinue reading “As coronavirus spreads, more people thinking about end-of-life directives “

An advance directive can bring peace of mind

Do you have an advance directive? Do you even know what one is? You’re not alone. A 2014 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that out of 7,900 people surveyed, only 26 percent had an advance directive. Nationwide, it’s estimated that only one out of six Americans say they’ve had advanceContinue reading “An advance directive can bring peace of mind”