"By the year 2010, 50% of Santa Cruz County residents age 19 and older will report having their end-of-life wishes for medical treatment in a written document."
Telling the Story
The Make Your Wishes Known Initiative in Santa Cruz, California.
Why Is It Important?
People of any age may find themselves in a position where they cannot speak for themselves, such as an accident or a serious illness. An advance directive for health care is a legal form that lets you make known what kind of health care you want or do not want if you become too ill to speak for yourself. Most health care providers agree that it is important for adults to have an advance directive. In spite of this, less than 30% of Americans have these forms.
Advance Directives:
Protect your right to accept or refuse medical treatment.
Make your choices known, and let you choose a person who whill speak for you.
Help your family, by freeing them of the stress of having to make difficult decisions for you.
Help your doctor, by giving directions for your care.
Story Behind The Trend
In 2006, Hospice Caring Project and the Health Improvement Partnership of Santa Cruz County identified a community health goal of ensuring that 50% of residents 19 years and older will have their end-of-lide wishes for medical treatment in a written document. This goal helps Santa Cruz County residents to prepare ahead of time for their end-of-life care.
The Make Your Wishes Known Initiative is a local project that works to meet this goal by educating our community about advance directives and how to fill them out. The Initiative is a joint effort of the Health Improvement Partnership of Santa Cruz County, Hospice Caring Project and the Santa Cruz County End-of-Life Coalition.
Providing fee advance directive forms in English and Spanish
Having a call-in phone line for people with questions about advance directives - 831.469.6222
Giving individual support on completing advance directives.
Giving talks for school, church, work and community groups.
The project has also distributed over 9.000 informational cards to 157 doctors at 90 clinic sites to make information available at doctors' offices throughout the County.
What the Data Tells Us
In Santa Cruz County in 2007, 43.5% of those surveyed said they had an advance directive. With the state average at 36%*, overall we are doing better than some communities. However there is still much room for improvement. In particular, we learned that Caucasians were significantly more likely to state that they had their medical wishes in writing than were Latinos (47.6 compared with 29.9). We also saw that people earning 65,500 or more were significantly more likely to have these documents than those earning between $35,000 and $65,499 (45.9 percent compared with 34.2 percent). In addition, see that the younger members of our community in general are much less likely to have an advance directive than older members. Identifying these gaps will help the Make Your Wishes Known Initiative better focus its efforts as we continue educating our community.
*California Healthcare Foundation: "Death and Dying in California," November 2006.
How Can We Make a Difference?
Making a difference starts with you!
You can download a free advance directive (in English or Spanish) by going to the Make Your Wishes Known website at www.makeyourwishesknown.org. On this site, you will find answers to common questions about advance directives and how to fill them out. If you prefer to order a form by phone, call 831.469.6222.
Once you have filled our your own directive and talked to your loved ones about it, encourage your friends and family to do the same.
If you belong to a group that would like a presentation, call the Make Your Wishes Known Initiative at 831.469.6222. Leave your name and number and someone will call you back about arranging a presentation.
Are you interested in being part of our community education efforts? Call 831.469.6222 and ask for information about volunteering.
