Looking Ahead Advance Care Planning co-founders to speak at national conference in Milwaukee

Betsy Payn, MSN, and Veronica Coyne, MD, co-founders of Looking Ahead, the Bucks County nonprofit that delivers community education and planning support for individuals’ end-of-life healthcare choices, have been invited to present their My Wishes Workshops™ model at the first annual Respecting Choices® national conference this fall.

National Share the Experience, September 7-10 in Milwaukee, brings together professionals and nonprofessionals in advance care planning (ACP). Highly successful Respecting Choices—the “gold standard” for advance care planning programs—is an initiative of Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where it was first developed over 25 years ago. It has served as the basis for many viable ACP programs operating across the country and in other countries.

Gundersen offers training and certification as well as “train the trainer” programs: both Ms Payn and Dr Coyne, who serve as Looking Ahead’s executive director and medical director, respectively, received their certification in La Crosse and now train their staff in the Respecting Choices model.

Advance care planning is the process during which individuals consider, discuss, document, share and file their personal healthcare choices for loved ones and healthcare providers to follow should they be unable to speak for themselves. These choices are recorded in a document called an advance directive, which incorporates both a living will and a durable healthcare power of attorney naming the individual’s healthcare agent.

Completing and sharing these documents is the best way to ensure that a patient’s wishes for care will be known, understood and carried out by those making decisions on the patient’s behalf.

When presenting ACP education and facilitation in the community, Ms Payn and Dr Coyne found that many participants, while agreeing that documenting and sharing their future healthcare wishes is an excellent idea, were reluctant to sign up for free facilitation opportunities.

In response, Ms Payn and Dr Coyne piloted a small-group workshop model—My Wishes Workshops—that has yielded a completion rate of over 71 percent, as compared to the 5 percent rate they were experiencing when relying on separate education and facilitation activities and one-on-one ACP sessions. The workshop model is not only far more successful, it also allows Looking Ahead staff to reach more people in less time.

The new model incorporates an educational presentation by two trained facilitators followed after a short break by a hands-on advance care planning session for no more than 15 participants from the initial presentation. Looking Ahead facilitators assist participants in completing their advance directives, then witness signatures and make copies for participants to share with loved ones and their healthcare agents. Looking Ahead follows up by filing each advance directive with the participants’ hospital and primary care physician.

Looking Ahead was founded in 2014. Its goal is to deliver ACP services and education to all members of the community regardless of health or income status. The nonprofit is supported by grants, contributions and individual fee-for-service clients. To learn more, or to schedule an education presentation, one-on-one ACP facilitation or group My Wishes Workshops™: Betsy@LookingAheadACP.org, 267.544.9580, LookingAheadACP.org.