Advance Care Planning Facilitator Shares His Thoughts

For a recent article I was asked to write for an employee newsletter, I shared an interview with one of our advance care planning facilitators, Aaron Vanman, MSW, LCSW. Advance care planning facilitators are formally trained in advance care planning practices and help walk our patients and families through the decision-making process. Aaron’s story provides a unique view of the advance care planning process and its importance in health care so I thought I would share it with you.

The Interview

As a medical social worker with OSF Home Care Services in Rockford, Illinois, I began advance care planning 22 years ago. However, it was not until I went through the advance care planning training with the OSF Care Decisions program that I felt I could effectively help patients and their families. The discussion in the OSF Care Decisions program is so much more than filling out the medical power of attorney form; it is an examination of one’s values and beliefs regarding end-of-life issues.

The OSF Care Decisions discussion ensures that the family or friends of an individual really know what that person’s wishes are; family members won’t have to try to interpret those wishes from a medical form alone.

I have as many as five advance care planning sessions a week through OSF Home Care and OSF Medical Group. I routinely see family members who are surprised to find out what their loved one’s wishes are. I find much confusion about the directive options including living will and medical power of attorney.

I may also educate them on the Health Surrogate Act, guardianship and the Do Not Resuscitate order. The families I meet with have responded well to the educational tools provided in the OSF Care Decisions model. They often have questions about organ donation and estate and funeral planning. I share with them the information I have on these topics and refer them elsewhere when it’s called for.

The feedback I’ve received about the OSF Care Decisions program has been phenomenal. I’ve heard from patients and their families that the discussions have helped facilitate other members of the family to become more educated as well as to complete their own advance directives.

This free service to our patients and their families is so important. Even when patients can’t articulate that to me, I see how true it is. One patient I worked with on advance care planning was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and the discussion with her family was quite emotional at times.

It was important to the patient that her family follow her wishes even after the time has come when she is no longer aware of her condition or health changes. It felt right to her that she was able to spell out detailed instructions and preferences so that her decisions were followed long after she was able to make them.

It’s patients like this who help me realize what an important part of the OSF Mission advance care planning really is.

Last Updated: November 6, 2018