Planning for yourself and your loved ones

Pacific Grove resident Walter Wieners says he is proud to share the gospel — the gospel of advance healthcare planning, that is.

“I got the religion from Joy Smith when we attended her advance healthcare planning class at Ryan Ranch last year,” Walter recalls as he sits next to his wife Penny, a palliative care patient experiencing rapid cognitive decline.

Advance healthcare planning is the process of making serious illness or end-of-life medical decisions in advance.

By completing an advance healthcare directive, choices about resuscitation, life support, and other options can be honored if a patient is unable to communicate, without those decisions falling on relatives and loved ones.

“Advance healthcare planning is a gift to yourself and to those who care about you,” says Joy Smith, RN, who leads Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula’s free online and in-person advance healthcare planning workshops.

“Joy said she encouraged her children and their spouses to complete advance healthcare directives, so I did the same with my son and two grandsons,” Walter says.

Then he told his neighbors, and soon, his entire circle had the peace of mind offered by advance healthcare planning.

“I’ve been leading the charge,” Walter says. “For most people it can be an uncomfortable topic, but anything can happen. Should something happen to me, Penny will be okay because her decisions are documented. And it takes the burden off my son.”

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