Things have changed considerably for seniors today – compared to what went on a couple of generations ago.
"People often died at home and they generally died with their family around them and not a lot of available intervention," said Dr. Craig Thomas, Castle Medical Center. "This was also the era where people landed on the moon and the war on cancer was going to be launched and won quickly. Well, we landed on the moon but cancer rates have hardly changed."
And that means hospitals and care givers must tend to those patients appropriately who are nearing the end of life. For instance, Castle has a palliative care program.
"A number of hospitals in the islands do," added Thomas. "It’s also connected to hospice. It has chaplain services, it has social services, all of which can help the patient, but at least as important, as I keep saying, the family."
The hospital’s primary focus is on comfort for the patient and for the family. But it takes all parties involved to make decisions.
"A huge obstacle is people just not talking about this before it happens," said Dave Rasmussen, Castle Chaplain. "Somehow, we’ve gotten the idea if we talk about it, we’re going to make it happen. And no, that’s not going to cause somebody to suddenly drop dead in their tracks."
Rasmussen recommends a book called the Five Wishes for families. We have moved past the time when families wanted to try every medical intervention possible when it came to a loved one.
"But I have seen more people coming up with an advance directive," said Rasmussen. "And that’s a free document that you can get. You can have an attorney help you with it, you can do it with your family, there’s a number of ways to do it."
And that document could give everybody peace of mind.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
