Advance Directives: Your Voice, Your Choice

An Advance Directive tells your healthcare team provides clarity about your wishes and preferences when it comes to your medical care.

Have you considered who you would want to make medical decisions for you if you were unable to do so? Are your family and close friends aware of your end of life wishes? It may be time to put those wishes into an Advance Directive. An Advance Directive is a document that allows any adult to share with their family, close friends, and healthcare team their wishes about medical care if they are unable to communicate those decisions themselves. An Advance Directive is important as it tells your healthcare team who can make medical decisions on your behalf and provides clarity about your wishes and preferences when it comes to your medical care.

An Advance Directive is a legal document that should be shared with the person(s) you want making your medical decisions if you are unable to do so, such as your family, your healthcare provider, and your local hospital. This form gives you control over your care, even when you are too sick or injured to speak. It reduces stress on your loved ones and your healthcare team when they know your wishes for medical treatment.

It is recommended that you file your completed Advance Directive with the Vermont Advance Directive Registry, an online database, which allows your Advance Directive to be accessed by any hospital providing care to you, even out of state.

Filling out an Advance Directive can feel overwhelming, and Rutland Regional Medical Center is here to help! The Community Health Improvement Department at RRMC is ready to answer your questions and can assist in completing the form and sharing it with your healthcare provider and Advance Directive Registry if you wish. This is a FREE service, and we are committed to supporting our community members to get this important document completed.

Rutland Regional Medical Center is hosting a FREE information session on Advance Directives, and our team of trained staff will be available to help you complete these forms. The free event will be held on April 16, at 2pm at the CVPS/Leahy Community Health Education Center. Follow the event parking signs.

For more information, please call the Community Health Improvement Department 802.747.5502.

You can also view and print out the Advance Directive forms online here: https://vtethicsnetwork.org/forms