Aging with Dignity has introduced 20 new language translations of the Five Wishes advance directive and issued a national call to action to help raise awareness among ethnic minorities about the importance of making healthcare decisions before a serious illness. The initiative is made possible with support from the United Health Foundation. Five Wishes is an easy-to-use advance directive that helps people address their medical, personal, emotional and spiritual needs before a health crisis. Five Wishes lets your family and doctors know:
• The person you want to make health care decision for you if you can't make them
• The kind of medical treatment you want or don’t want
• How comfortable you want to be
• How you want people to treat you
• What you want your loved ones to know
Five Wishes now meets the legal requirements in 40 states and is a valuable resource in all 50 states. It is now available in Albanian, Bengali, Arabic, Chinese traditional and simplified, Croatian, French, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Urdu and Vietnamese in addition to English. The 500,000 Wishes Campaign is a nationwide call to action from leading organizations that are committed to focusing attention on the importance of making decisions ahead of a serious illness and communicating those decisions to caregivers and family members. Additionally, the campaign is a response to the increasing number of people who require assistance in communicating their wishes in languages other than English. The 500,000 Wishes Campaign will combine the efforts of all supporting organizations in a national initiative to distribute a half-million translated Five Wishes advance directives in the next 12 months. Five Wishes was introduced nationally in 1998 and quickly became the most widely used advance directive in America. It was created with help from leading medical experts and the American Bar Association's Commission on Law and Aging. Five Wishes meets the legal requirements in 40 states including two states, Wisconsin and Vermont, which were just added in the latest edition. As part of the 500,000 Wishes Campaign supported by the United Health Foundation, limited numbers of the translated documents are available at no cost and may be requested online at
www.agingwithdignity.org or by calling toll-free 1-888-594-7437 (1-888-5-WISHES). Other resources related to advance care planning are also available.
Ms. MacDonald’s practice is limited to Estate Planning, Trust Administration, Probate and Elder Law. Ms. MacDonald maintains her practice in the Santa Clarita Valley at 27013 Langside Avenue, Suite A, Santa Clarita, California. She can be reached at 661-251-1300.