Dr. Joelle Bradley has a not-so-secret plan to turn New Westminster into the La Crosse, Wis. of Canada.
What’s so special about La Crosse?
Well, some 96 per cent of people who die in the American city have done some kind of advance care planning.
If you don’t know that what it is, you’re not alone.
About 86 per cent of Canadians have never heard of it, according to a 2012 Ipsos-Reid poll.
Bradley, a hospitalist at Royal Columbian Hospital, hopes to change that – starting in New West.
Advance care planning is the process of figuring out and communicating ahead of time what your wishes for medical treatment would be if you were ever too sick or injured to speak for yourself.
It’s especially important for people nearing the end of their lives, but Bradley would like to get 30-somethings talking too because a health crisis can hit anyone, at any age, any time.
“The earlier we start it, the more normalized it is, and the easier it will be for us to engage in it on our life’s trajectory because we’ll have the language,” Bradley told the Record.
To get people talking, she has been the driving force behind an advance care planning fair at Century House on April 11.
The fair will be interactive, with stations organized around the five themes of advancecareplanning.ca’s Speak Up campaign: think, learn, choose, talk, record.
The first station encourages participants to reflect on their values and what makes life meaningful.
“Knowing that helps us think about the future, and, if time was running short, what would be important to us,” Bradley said.
A group of doctors will be on hand at the learn station to answer questions about what medical interventions are available, and why patients might choose one over another.
The choose station is designed to help participants pick a decision-maker to speak for them if they are ever too sick or injured to speak for themselves.
At the talk station, participants will brainstorm ways start end of life conversations with their families.
Finally, the record station will feature social workers who can help participants with different ways to record their wishes – from recordings on iPads to official advance directives.
Bradley predicts people will be tempted to jump right to the final station, but she said the whole process is important.
“There’s nothing to record if you haven’t done the reflection and the talking and the exploration and the learning,” she said. “People always want to get to the paperwork.”
The fair takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Century House (620 Eighth St.)
