News

Contact: Amy Blaser

For Immediate Release

(COLUMBUS, Neb.) - When you’re planning for future healthcare decisions, you need to talk to your
loved ones about values, priorities and the quality of life you want. To help you in this process,
Columbus Community Hospital’s ethics committee created an advance healthcare directives tool kit.

“We decided in the ethics committee that it would be good to have just universal forms that we use
throughout CCH and other medical facilities in the community,” said Lisa Weber, a social worker at CCH.

This toolkit does not replace an attorney’s services; rather, it is a way for people to start thinking about
what they want.

During the process, each person needs to do the following:

• Decide who will speak for them if they can no longer make decisions themselves.
• Identify and clarify their values, priorities and goals about health and medical treatment.
• Gain clarity about the types of decisions that might need to be made, and identify the care they do and don’t want to receive in various situations.
• Let others know — both family and healthcare providers — about their care preferences at
  life’s end.

Advance care planning ensures a patient's wishes will be respected if they are unable to participate in
decision-making.

Each toolkit contains the following resources:

• An informational guide detailing the benefits of advance directives and definitions.
• A Nebraska Power of Attorney form
• A Nebraska Living Will Declaration form
• A portable medical orders (POLST) form
  • This form is for patients who have a serious, life-limiting medical condition.

Mark Howerter, MD, CCH’s chief medical officer, said it’s best that people work alongside their family on
advance healthcare directives. It is then a conversation to have with their family physician.

“Advance care planning helps ensure that future medical treatment conforms with a person’s beliefs
and values,” he said. “It also ensures people get the full spectrum of care they want and protects against
excessive, unwanted treatment.”

The toolkit is available at the hospital, Columbus Medical Center and Columbus Family Practice. To
obtain one, please contact your healthcare provider.

For more information on the toolkit, you can contact CCH’s home health and hospice department at
402-562-3300.