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WARSAW – Care Connection Care Manager Colleen Swanigan will provide a free session to help seniors put together a living will at 1 p.m. on April 15 at the Warsaw Senior Center in Harbor Village.
Swanigan will have available the “Five Wishes” booklet, which addresses medical, personal, emotional, and spiritual needs in case a person becomes seriously ill.
April 16 is observed as National Healthcare Decisions Day.
The 12-page booklet, written with simple instructions and fill-in blanks, substantially meets the requirements under law in Missouri and 41 other states. It allows participants to designate the person to make care decisions for them; the kind of medical treatment they want; how comfortable they want to be; how they want to be treated; and what they want loved ones to know.
Care Connection for Aging Services has adopted the “Five Wishes” program and has the booklets on hand all year, said Marilyn Gunter, the agency’s Director of Care Management.
“It’s just a nice booklet to have. It makes you think about a lot of things you might not otherwise,” Gunter said. “Most people just think about the medical and not all the pieces of a living will. This document goes beyond the standard thinking.”
In Missouri, the booklet must be notarized.
The Warsaw Senior Center is one of 22 centers operated by Care Connection for Aging Services, a non-profit area agency on aging serving 13 West Central Missouri counties, including Benton.