02-21-2024 PTL - Flipbook - Page 22
22 A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Preparing for tomorrow,
continued from page 9
Forms You Need
You can download a form for an
advanced directive from the Maryland
Attorney General’s website: www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov. Go to “Quick
Links” and it’s the first one listed. It will
open a PDF of the form you can download and complete. Make sure to pay
attention to this admonition:
“Regardless of age or health status,
a crisis could leave you too ill or injured
to communicate decisions about your
physical or mental health care. Planning
ahead about the types of treatment you
would or wouldn’t like and potential outcomes is important. Start the conversation with family, friends, health care providers, an attorney, or religious advisor.”
Under the directions for the
advanced directive, you will also find
a link for MOLST: Medical Orders for
Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST).
The MOLST form can be found online
at http://marylandmolst.org. From that
page, click on “MOLST Form.”
You can also contact the Maryland
Institute for Emergency Medical Services
Systems (MIEMSS) directly at 410-7064367. The form contains information for
the medical personnel treating someone
with regards to (CPR) and other medical orders regarding life-sustaining treatments. For more information, visit the
website.
There is also a page on Health
Decisions Policy: Legal Advice on Endof-Life and Other Issues. The Attorney
General’s Office periodically writes legal
A home for life,
continued from page 12
opinions and letters of advice on the
Health Care Decisions Act, related matters affecting the care of patients with
advanced illness, and other health care
issues. These opinions are grouped by
subject.
Thus, There are Two Parts to
Planning for Tomorrow Today:
• Parents: take care of the estate
planning documents and then talk
with your children about what you
want. Don’t leave them guessing.
• Children: talk to your parents and
make sure they’ve created estate
planning documents and to let you
know the basics of what they want
at the end of their lives, whenever
that occurs.
All families are different. My father
was pretty young, just 42, when he had
his first heart attack. It was fairly mild. As
the oldest child, that event spurred my
parents to let me know what they wanted when they died. Among my friends
and acquaintances, some, like me, were
informed early on. But many had no idea
what their parents wanted, and it was
difficult when, at the end of their parents’
lives, they had to make a choice without
any guidance. Another tough situation is
when there is pushback from the kids;
they don’t want to contemplate their
parents dying. After hearing stories on
both sides, it’s far better to have the talk.
Do it today.
explains, “that mirrors Long Term Care
Insurance. No one is ever asked to
leave, even if they outlive their resources through no fault of their own. Our
vision is founded in faith. We have a
Christian heritage but do not espouse
a particular religion. All Acts communities do have a full-time chaplain.”
Fairhaven just completed a multimillion-dollar upgrade. It renovated the
campus and the welcome house that
everyone passes through. There is a
new lobby, an outdoor courtyard, new
club rooms and a new lounge area with
a bar. It also added a new restaurant/
dining room, so now there are three. It
also has an outdoor shuffleboard court
and a three-hole, par 3 golf course.
Although there is no dedicated
memory care unit, the memory support
program is practiced across all levels
of living. Arcadia has implemented a
memory café for residents who are
caring for a spouse with dementia.
“We meet monthly,” she says. “It’s not
a support group; it’s a program that
provides a safe place for residents and
their care partners to be together. They
have lunch, some activity, and fellowship. It’s lovely to see. We currently
have 15 couples in the program.”
A lot of team members support the
café each month volunteering their
time: Arcadia, the chaplain, the direc-
tor of nursing, the outreach coordinator, director of rehabilitation, nurse
practitioner, nurse navigator, and the
business office manager. “These are
our team members who have a passion
for dementia care. Our team gets as
much out of it as our residents do. We
all support it wholeheartedly,” Arcadia
says.
Acts Retirement Communities
embodies its mission: “Acts is committed to providing security and peace
of mind to seniors by being a preeminent provider of retirement-life services, responsive to individual, social,
personal, health, and spiritual needs
in a Christian atmosphere graced with
Loving-Kindness, dignity, sensitivity,
honesty, and respect, without prejudice or preference,” according to the
company.
“As you can see,” Arcadia points
out, “we have a culture of loving kindness. Acts has had this as part of
our mission statement for years, and
everyone from our corporate officers
to communities know what that means.
It’s much more than something in a
marketing brochure. Employees and
residents across the breadth of the
Acts organization and its 27 communities put this into practice every single
day. It’s why I’ve stayed over 20 years.
It’s a calling, not a job.”
