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What on earth have Brussel sprouts got to do with End of life planning and having No Regrets, I hear you say? Well, quite a lot actually…
To this day, I still don’t like the taste of Brussel sprouts (and that is stating it mildly, lol) and the thought of being fed them if I ever became incapacitated and couldn’t verbally communicate this, fills me with absolute horror. This is just a simple and practical example of what to consider when writing our Advance statement which accompanies our Advance Decisions (ADRT) otherwise known as a Living Will.
It is the space where you not only explain the reason behind your decisions made in your Advance decisions, but it is also the space to tell people who will be caring for you about what is important to you in life.
This can be anything from how and where you wish to be cared for, which foods and drinks you like or do not like, anything you feel you would like them to know at a time in the future when you may not be able to communicate your instructions and preferences for yourself.
My experiences over the last 9 years of regular visits to Residential care homes in my Facilitating working with both groups of residents and one-to-one with people, has enabled me to gain many insights into my own wishes around how I want to be cared for and what is needed to consider.
I am often there at times, when the tea trolley comes around and in - between meal times.
witnessing the Care staff all hard at work, supporting their residents with their many needs whilst having to do all the increasing paperwork that comes with the job.
It is not always possible for the staff to have the time get to know all about the many residents’ personal lives and history, whether or not they like Brussel sprouts, what colour clothes they like to wear or have access to this knowledge if there is no family and the person does not have the ability to voice their preferences.
love that my work has given me the window of opportunity to have the dedicated time to find all these incredible things out about a person’s life and what brought them to this point in time.
However, when a person is living with advanced Dementia and unable to verbally communicate, it is not always easy for me to access the information about their lives unless the staff or family members are there to tell me or a life -storybook has been created.
It therefore made me realise just how important it is to have this information recorded and written down. It inspired me to consider all possible situations and circumstances when completing my own Advance Decisions and Advance Statement, such as my llifestyle preferences including my strong dislike of Brussel sprouts!
Book a call with me to find out more about how you can get your Advance Decisions and Advance Statements or any other aspects of end-of-life planning in place.
Read others' experiences of working with me.
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Thanks so much for reading,
Mala xx