Caring Community - English

Advance Health Care Directive (English and Spanish)

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 12:10:51 -0800

The Advance Health Care Directive is a legally binding form that lets you exercise your right to give instructions about your own health care and/or to name someone else to make health care decisions for you in the event you are unable to speak for yourself. If you use this form, you may complete or modify all or any part of it. You are free to use a different form. In any case, agents designated and signatures required must be done in the manner prescribed on this form and mandated by the California State Legislature.

It is recommended that you use this form and complete the whole form. Completing this form will revoke any previous health care directives. It is advisable to also complete the Values Checklist we provide and include that as an attachment to your Advance Directive to help clarify your wishes.

Equally important is having meaningful conversations with people who care about you so that they know and understand your wishes concerning end of life care. Guidelines to help Talking Things Over are provided on this site to help you through the process.

Upon completion of your Advance Healthcare Directive, copies should be distributed to family members and those who would care for you in the event of a life-threatening condition. It is also recommended that you keep a current copy of your Advance Directive in the glove box of your vehicle.

PDF format

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in PDF format. (You need the free Acrobat Reader to open and print this file.)

DOC format

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in DOC format. (You must have Microsoft Word or a compatible program to open and print this file.)

en Espanol

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in Spanish

End of Life Values-Choices Checklist

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:54:32 -0700

English

The End of Life Values-Choices Checklist is a form that lets you think about end of life choices and values, and commit them to writing.

If you prefer, you can download the End of Life Values-Choices Checklist in Microsoft Word (.doc) format.

Spanish

The End of Life Values-Choices Checklist is a form that lets you think about end of life choices and values, and commit them to writing.

If you prefer, you can download the End of Life Values-Choices Checklist in Microsoft Word (.doc) format.

Environmental Center of Sonoma County

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 11:29:56 -0700

The Environmental Center has three functions. It supports the work of member organizations, serves as an information and referral service and provides opportunity for ad hoc groupings to work on specific issues. Member groups and guests use it as their home base, and/or as a place for presenting programs, having meetings, mailings, or other work sessions. Most of this activity is open to the public directly, or through enrollment in one of the member organizations.

Hungry for Air On-line Support Community for COPD

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:15:48 -0800

This site sponsored by the American Lung Association and ALTANA Pharma provides help to sufferers, their families and caregivers. You'll find profiles of COPD patients and caregivers, practical advice and the latest information on the disease and its diagnosis. Available through 12/31/05. Site notes that more than 10 million Americans suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary diesease (COPD). It's the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. and costs $37 Billion in meidcal bills per year according to 11/13/05 article in PARADE magazine. Site has Spanish language resources.

Memorial Hospice

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:52:49 -0800

Rooted in community, Memorial Hospice has been providing quality, compassionate hospice care and grief services to individuals and families facing life-threatening illness or the death of a loved one since 1997. Memorial Hospice and our sister program, Hospice of Petaluma, are a service of the St. Joseph Health System, a Ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange.

Patients and families receive interdisciplinary patient care with individualized attention to nursing, psychosocial, spiritual and practical needs that may arise at the end of life. Memorial Hospice is proud of serving the Spanish-speaking community with our Latino Grief Services program and bi-lingual patient care staff. Hospice services are provided by professional staff and specially trained caregiver and grief support volunteers. Volunteer trainings are held in the spring and fall with both daytime and evening classes.

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:36:49 -0800

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute provides numerous educational materials in Spanish concerning a variety of diseases and conditions. Health Topics provides science-based, plain-language information related to heart, lung, and blood diseases and conditions and sleep disorders. The site contains articles on diseases, conditions, tests, procedures, and other relevant topics, which you can e-mail, print, and share. New topics will be added regularly.

NOAH: New York Online Access to Health

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:06:20 -0800

NOAH provides access to high quality full-text consumer health information in English and Spanish that is accurate, timely, relevant and unbiased.

Seniors and the Law (English)

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:26:33 -0800

Seniors & the Law—A Guide for Maturing Californians is the third in a series of State Bar consumer education guides and is available in both English and Spanish.

Taking Care of Others: Caregiver Survival Tips

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:10:08 -0800

Caregiver Survival Tips offers a simple ten-step approach to aid you in your helping role. This brochure includes resources and links to help you access additional information.

Thinking Ahead: My Way, My Choice, My Life at the End

Fri, 13 May 2011 13:16:12 -0700

This advance care planning workbook was designed by and for people with developmental disabilities to enable them to do their own advance care planning. A DVD video is also available and may be previewed online. This project was created by the California Coalition for Compassionate Care, the Board Resource Center and Mark Starford who has extensive experience and expertise in adapting complex information for persons with developmental disabilities. This is also a great resource to use when working with the frail elderly, people with low reading comprehension or anytime simplification of complex advance health care planning issues would be helpful. It is also available in Spanish and Chinese.