N.C. Center for Creative Retirement to Host Two Health Care Decisions Forums

As part of National Health Care Decisions Week, UNC Asheville’s North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement will hold two free panel presentations on "Your Toolbox for Successful Living: Health Care Decisions." The first event will be held on November 6 at UNCA’s Kellogg Center, 11 Broyles Rd., Hendersonville. The second event will be held on November 18, at UNCA’s Reuter Center. Both are free and open to the public.

Area experts will speak on living wills, health care power of attorney, and mental health power of attorney, as well as advance care planning and organ, eye and tissue donation from

6-7 p.m. A question-and-answer session will follow their talk. Handouts and materials will be available for participants at information tables from 5:30-8 p.m.

Speakers at the November 6 Hendersonville event include Debby Bradley, Pardee Hospital director of pastoral care; Caroline Knox, elder law attorney with Van Winkle, Buck, Wall, Starnes and Davis; Mike McCann, elder law attorney with Johnston and McCann; Bill Hasskamp, LifeShare Of The Carolinas recovery coordinator; and Ed Jenest, WNC Organ & Tissue Donation Initiative founder.

Speakers at the November 18 Asheville event include David Blackmon, Mission Hospitals values and ethics coordinator; Cathie St. John-Ritzen, elder law attorney; Cornelia Scibetta, Care Partners palliative care nurse coordinator; Melissa Parker, LifeShare Of The Carolinas recovery coordinator and Ed Jenest, WNC Organ & Tissue Donation Initiative founder.

Of the more than 70,000 deaths in North Carolina each year, between 90 and 95 percent are due to illness. Ron Manheimer, N.C. Center for Creative Retirement executive director, urges people to take note of such statistics and to plan ahead. "For peace of mind, we all need to think through our health care choices and talk them over with our families before a crisis situation arises," said Manheimer. "The ‘Toolbox for Successful Living’ program is a great way to get the facts and understand our options."

Local partners include Alzheimer’s Association, AARP N.C., Care Partners, Council on Aging, End of Life Care Coalition for Western N.C., Four Seasons Hospice, Land-of-Sky Regional Council, LifeShare Of The Carolinas, Memory Assessment Clinic and WNC Organ & Tissue Donation Initiative. Statewide sponsors are N.C. Coalition on Donation, N.C. Bar Association’s Health Law Section, and Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care.

For more information, call event coordinator Ed Jenest at 828/296-9708.

In November-December 2002, AARP North Carolina and The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care conducted a comprehensive survey of the concerns and attitudes toward end of life issues among AARP members age 50 and older in North Carolina. A total of 3,586 people responded yielding a 45 percent response rate.

Among the survey’s findings were:

* While 86 percent reported being at least somewhat comfortable talking about death, only 11 percent reported that they had talked with their physicians about end of life care, and only six percent had spoken with clergy about their end of life wishes.

* Although 79 percent felt it was important to be off machines that extend life, only half of the respondents had an advanced directive and fewer than one in 10 were aware of the Advance Health Care Directive Registry in North Carolina.

* Some 63 percent indicated concern that their money would not last through the dying process, yet only 24 percent known that Medicare pays for hospice services.

Media Contacts:

• Ed Jenest, Event Coordinator and NCCCR Steering Council Member, 828/296-9708
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526