Share your last wishes, Kiwis urged
Once you make a plan you start living, says Clendon man
For a South Auckland man with chronic breathing issues it was a relief to be able to voice his wishes for his final days. When the time comes, Arthur Te Anini has chosen to have close whanau surrounding him.
“If I can hear them in the room just laughing, joking and talking I’d be very comfortable to just float away. That’d be wonderful.”
Te Anini has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is an umbrella term for emphysema, chronic bronchitis and chronic asthma which Te Anini knows will limit his life.
The 68-year-old is one Kiwi who has made an advance care plan — a document that describes what is important to you as well as the health care and treatments you want.
The Clendon man is encouraging other seniors to put their wishes into writing for Advance Care Planning Day tomorrow.
“This is a pretty good idea for me. I am chronically ill. This plan puts in place care and advised my family what to do. The thing I thought was brilliant is it is a guide for the medical team for my end-of-life care.
“Once you get your plan made you start living. You stop worrying what’s going to happen to my cat and my car. My death will be quite easy, it’s all in the plan!”
But it wasn’t easy facing those sensitive questions. It took Te Anini, who is Ngati Whanaunga, five goes to complete the plan and now he is passionate about sharing the idea.
He promotes it at marae around the country.
He said Maori in particular do not like discussing death because it is seen as private and tapu. But he has encountered many deaths which put huge pressure on surviving family to sort out the person’s wishes.
Te Anini’s plan is detailed. He wants to be remembered for his achievements, the people he has met and helped. He also wants people to recall his “favourite party trick” where he recites a paragraph using words that start with each letter of the alphabet consecutively.
“I have instructions I want to be clean shaven, I want my fingernails clipped, I want the hair plucked out of my ears and nose, my face oiled and I want to be smelling of Old Spice. I want to be very presentable,” he explained to the Herald. “These are things that are important to me.
“They recognise I had a celebrated life and had important values.”
A freely available template includes questions about happiness, routine and religious beliefs.
Then it delves deeper to document how much say you want in future decisions, whether you want to know how long you have left to live and how much loved ones should be told about your health. It asks where you would like to die, where family can find your will, your wishes for organ donation and whether you want to be buried or cremated.
Advance care planning clinical lead Dr Barry Snow said research showed when people understand their future they become less afraid, less depressed and they live longer.
And from a doctor’s point of view: “We need people to talk about their preferences.”
The advanced care plan concept has been around for 15 to 20 years but had really increased in the past seven years, Snow said.
If the End of Life Choice Bill, now before Parliament, is passed into law an advance care plan may also be a place people could specify their wishes. But Snow said doctors prefer to work with patients to problemsolve on the reasons they want to die, such as a pain management plan.
Snow admits it is hard to raise the topic but it is important.
˜“Nobody lives forever.” For more information http://www.advancecareplanning.org.nz/resources/