By Patsy Klein, M.Ed., St. Jeanne Jugan Ministry for Elders
Being people of faith, we know and believe that there is something wonderful and greater that awaits us when we die. And yet, conversations regarding illness and death are frightening to many and are avoided at all costs.
However, the individuals left paying the cost of not planning are you, your family, and friends. Advance Care Planning easily removes the burden on your family and friends in the case you are unable to speak for yourself. Advance Care Planning also provides your decided plan of action should you, for some reason, not be able to speak for yourself. Accidents and illness are not dictated by a person’s age. We hear about it every day: car accidents, swimming accidents, heart attack, diabetic reaction, early detection of severe illnesses such as cancer… they all happen regardless of age, gender, or economic status. We do have marvels that medicine has created, plus many treatments, surgeries, and medications that assist a person to return to consciousness and many times return an individual living their regular life.
It is best to plan when you are of good health and can speak with your doctors and specialists. Do your homework obtaining the best information possible to create your plan in case of an emergency. What do you want and not want with regards to care? That is the best path to take, so that you don’t put pressure on family and friends to make a “best guess” as to what you would want to have done. We talk about not wanting to be or create a burden. I work with the elderly, the sick, the dying, and the grieving and the most difficult situation is to try to help the person who can’t even begin to grieve because they can’t get past two questions: did I make the right choice? Did I hold on to decisions too long because I couldn’t let go and I made them suffer?
Dr. Grace Johnston wrote an article, “Jesus Practiced Advance Care Planning: Biblical Basis and Possible Applications” (1).
She wrote that Jesus told those close to him that he was going to die even though they did not want to hear this, participated in celebrating his life on Palm Sunday, he shared a Last Supper with those close to him, showed them how he wanted to be remembered, asked his friends to pray with him in the garden of Gethsemane, and before last breaths, said to his mother that John would care for her. If Jesus thought this was important, why don’t you?
The St. Jeanne Jugan Ministry with Elders, a ministry of Catholic Community Services, provides free workshops at parishes and will meet with individuals providing the “5 Wishes” form and information to planning within Catholic Teaching. For more information or to schedule a workshop, please contact Patsy Klein at 520-392-4999 or [email protected].
(Johnston G (2020) Jesus practiced advance care planning: biblical basis and possible applications, Palliative Medicine Reports 1:1, 242–245, DOI: 10.1089/pmr.2020.0012.)