April is Advance Care Planning Month in Virginia

living will

NORFOLK - The Virginia General Assembly has passed a resolution designating April in 2016 and in each succeeding year as Advance Care Planning Month in Virginia. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe is expected to sign the measure.

Virginia’s designation of April as Advance Care Planning month is the first such act by any state legislature.

The joint resolution was introduced in the House by Delegate Keith Hodges, District 98 Urbanna, and in the Senate by Senator John Miller, District 1 Newport News, on behalf of the Advance Care Planning Coalition of Eastern Virginia.

The Coalition is a partnership between four area agencies on aging and four health systems. The founding partners of the Coalition are the Peninsula Agency on Aging, Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia, Bay Aging, and Eastern Shore Area Agency on Aging. The Coalition sponsors are Bon Secours Hampton Roads, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare, Riverside Health System and Sentara Healthcare. The Coalition sponsors the As You Wish Advance Care Planning community education and guidance program.

Joining the Coalition in endorsing the resolution were twelve other public and private health organizations in Virginia. Each promotes the importance of documenting your end-of-life medical care wishes with an advance care plan, also called an advance directive.

An estimated 4.5 million Virginia adults do not have advance directives with 1.4 million of those living in the Tidewater region where the Coalition is based. As You Wish Virginia advocates that adults over the age of 18 complete and register an advance medical directive and designate an agent for medical decisions in case of a catastrophic illness or injury that renders you incapable of expressing your end-of-life wishes. The program’s materials and website can assist anyone in the Commonwealth. Individual guidance is provided by Coalition representatives by phone, email, or in person in eastern Virginia.

Contact:          David Murray

                        Executive Director, Advance Care Planning Coalition of Eastern Virginia

                        6350 Center Drive, Building 5, Suite 101 • Norfolk, VA 23502

                        757-222-4506