SPRING 2022
News from your Primary Care Team and eBrightHealth ACO
at home!
Tips to stretch and tone at home
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS YOU NEED
Let’s talk about Advance Care Planning Every adult over the age of 65 — no matter how healthy and independent you currently are — should start thinking about Advance Care Planning. This includes filling out important documents called Advance Directives (see page 2). These documents let your loved ones and your health care team know about the care you would want if a serious illness or injury keeps you from making or communicating decisions for yourself. Advance Care Planning is not a one-and-done talk. It’s a process — an ongoing conversation you have while you are well that may change with events in your life. Start the conversation today!
How to choose a
health care proxy
Your Annual Wellness Visit is a great time to talk about Advance Care Planning with your Primary Care Team.
Check out the Advance Care Planning checklist inside. 1
Advance Directives
Important documents for everyone over 65
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dvance Directives allow you to spell out your wishes for treatment should you become physically or mentally unable to communicate with your care team. If you do not already have these documents in place, start the process to create or update them today! 1. LIVING WILL — expresses your wishes about lifesaving treatments and procedures in the event you are too ill to communicate. You may also use a 5 Wishes form. See page 4.
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2. MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY — names someone else to make decisions about your health care when you are not able to do so yourself. If you have a serious illness, your health care team may recommend that you also complete a Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form. In Delaware, this form is called the Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment, or DMOST. This medical order gives you even more control over specific emergency treatment preferences and guides your care in any health care setting — at home, by first responders, in the hospital or a skilled nursing facility.
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Sign, seal and deliver Visit ebrighthealthaco.org to download free Advance Directives documents. Hospitals also have copies of these forms for you to complete.
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Give a copy of your Advance Directives to your health care proxy (see page 3 on choosing a health care proxy).
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Ask your Primary Care Team to add your Advance Directives to your medical record.
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Tell close family and friends where you keep your Advance Directives. Make sure you pick a secure, but easily accessible place (not a bank safe deposit box!).
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Take a copy of your Advance Directives with you for planned hospital stays.
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Review your Advance Directives regularly, every 2-3 years or whenever you have a major health or life change (married, divorced, widowed) or if you need to change your health care proxy.
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Keep track of who has copies of your Advance Directives in case you make changes and need to provide updated versions.
Studies show that patients with a serious illness who receive palliative care achieve better quality of life!
Comfort for life!
Palliative care and hospice care: Not the same! People often confuse palliative care with hospice. They are not the same! Both provide comfort and support for patients and their loved ones, but they happen at very different stages of the care process.
Palliative care is an extra layer of support to help patients and families who are living with a serious illness or injury. Specially trained Palliative Care teams work with your current doctors to offer an extra layer of support to relieve symptoms and stress. The goal is to help you enjoy the highest possible quality of life while you are going through treatments.
Hospice care offers support once patients and families choose to focus on comfort and not curative care.
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If you are being treated for a serious illness, ask your Primary Care Team or specialist if Palliative Care could make a difference!
Choosing a health care proxy or agent A health care proxy (also sometimes called an agent or surrogate) is the person you name in your Medical Power of Attorney document to make decisions about your care only when you cannot speak for yourself. Choose a trusted adult relative or friend, your lawyer or someone from your social or spiritual community who shares your views and values about life and medical decisions. Make sure the person you choose agrees to this responsibility! Write your wishes down for them. Better yet, video yourself talking about your wishes.
Talk with them about the types of care you would want in different scenarios. Make it an ongoing conversation — your wishes may change! Carry their name and number in your wallet. If you are not able to make your own health care decisions and have not named a proxy, your care team may ask a relative to make decisions for you, or the state may appoint someone to speak on your behalf. The choice is yours. Choose a proxy now and let them know your wishes!
Important: Naming someone your health
care proxy does NOT give them power to make financial or legal decisions for you.
My mother always used to say, “ ‘The older you get, the better you get. Unless you’re a banana.’” — BETTY WHITE
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Word Find Be Well. Stay Well. Advance
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Have you scheduled your Annual Wellness Visit yet for 2022? This important yearly visit with your Primary Care Team lets you create a personalized ongoing and informed wellness prevention plan and make sure your health record is complete and up-to-date. DISCOVER helpful tips to keep you at your best. REDUCE your risk of getting sick. REVIEW your medications, vaccinations and recommended screenings. LEARN how you can prevent falls. Your Annual Wellness Visit is a great time to talk about Advance Care Planning with your Primary Care Team.
Palliative Process Proxy
Values Wishes
MyMedicare.gov Take a few minutes to set up your secure, personal account at MyMedicare.gov. • Choose a primary clinician to coordinate your overall care. This can be a doctor, physician assistant, nurse practitioner or certified nurse specialist from your Primary Care Team or any specialty. You can still receive care from other health care professionals who accept Medicare. • Find your eligibility and preventive services information. • Check your health and prescription drug plan information. Need help choosing your primary clinician on Medicare.gov? Call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY users call 1-877-486-2048).
My 5 wishes are...
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The person I want to make care decisions for me when I can’t make them myself.
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The kind of medical treatment I want — or don’t want.
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How comfortable I want to be.
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How I want people to treat me.
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What I want my loved ones to know. Visit fivewishes.org to print an easy-tocomplete Advance Directives form that is legal in most states, including Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Personal values are key! What makes life meaningful for you? 4
EXERCISE AT H O M E
Stretch and tone all day long! Exercise is good for your heart, muscles and joints. It helps you think more clearly and strengthens your memory, too. Finding it hard to squeeze in the recommended 30 minutes a day? Several short bursts of activity may better fit your schedule and energy level.
Think of advance care planning like a recipe for conversation. It combines essential ingredients like values, beliefs and trust with step-by-step instructions to help your loved ones and care team make the decisions you would want. Blend up a batch of these delicious, nutritious smoothies to share over this important conversation today!
RECIPE FOR A
Smoooooth Conversation
START MOVING EARLY IN THE DAY FOR A BOOST OF THE FEEL-GOOD CHEMICALS SEROTONIN AND DOPAMINE. YOU’LL RAISE YOUR METABOLISM, TOO. NO EXERCISE EQUIPMENT? NO WORRIES!
Use water bottles or 1 lb. cans to strengthen arm and shoulder muscles.
Take the stairs
(stay safe; hold the handrail!).
Stretch at your desk, on the sofa or even in the kitchen while waiting for your coffee to brew! Check out AARP.org and SilverSneakers.com for strength-training videos you can do right at home.
Mixed Berry Smoothie APPROXIMATELY 1 ½ CUPS. SERVES 2.
INGREDIENTS
National Health Care Decisions Day is April 16
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Taxes are done. Now it’s time to start — or continue — the conversation about the care you want to receive. Make sure your Advance Directives are up to date!
1 cup low-fat milk ½ cup non-fat Greek yogurt 1 cup spinach
1 banana 1 cup frozen mixed berries, do not defrost
Combine all ingredients in a blender and purée until completely smooth, pausing to scrape the sides as necessary. Serve immediately. NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER PORTION: CALORIES 167, PROTEIN 9G, CARBOHYDRATES 30G, DIETARY FIBER 4G, POTASSIUM 631MG, SUGARS 20G, TOTAL FAT 2G, TRANS, POLYUNSATURATED & MONOUNSATURATED FAT 0G, SATURATED FAT 1G, SODIUM 91MG, CHOLESTEROL 8MG
Thank you to eBrightHealth ACO partner ChristianaCare for this recipe. To find more, visit our website at ebrighthealthaco.org.
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
WILMINGTON DE PERMIT NO. 357
4000 Nexus Drive, Suite NW2 Wilmington, DE 19803
Start the conversation!
Now you’re talking...
Beneficiary to Beneficiary It’s never too soon to start talking about your health care wishes with your care team and loved ones, says Evelyn Hayes, your eBrightHealth ACO beneficiary representative. Let her know you’ve started the conversation and she’ll send you our 2022 Health & Wellness Planner, pill organizer AND medication bag!
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Be Well. Stay Well.
Email Evelyn at info@ebhaco.org. Don’t forget to include your name and mailing address!
April 2022 Stay active! Physical activity boosts immunity. Think strength, balance, flexibility & endurance. SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Sound sleep helps keep you healthy & alert. Avoid late-day naps, set a bedtime routine, turn screens off and soft music on. A warm bath and cool room helps. Snoring or restless legs? Tell your doctor. WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
Notes
FRIDAY
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Passover begins
Health & Wellness24 Planner 25 26 Easter
22ACO35_2022 ACO Health Planner FINAL.indd 1
Pill Organizer
Medication Bag
9/21/21 9:02 AM
April 2022
This newsletter is from your Primary Care Team and these partners that make up eBrightHealth ACO. Be sure to stay in touch with your Primary Care Team throughout the year to help you Be Well. Stay Well. COMMUNITY PRACTICES: Atlantic Family Physicians; Curtis A. Smith, D.O.; Dover Family Physicians; LaRed Health Center; Quality Family Physicians; and Westside Family Healthcare
For more information, visit ebrighthealthaco.org and go to For Beneficiaries, or call the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at 1-800-633-4227 (TTY 1-877-486-2048). 22ACO47
Advance Care Planning Advance care planning lets others know your values and beliefs about the care you would want for a serious illness or injury. It helps you think about and document what your choices would be, and who you want to speak for you if you can no longer speak for yourself. It’s not a one-and-done talk. It’s a process — an ongoing conversation that may change over time.
Start the conversation today! Take time now to think about what matters to you. There are no right or wrong choices! Some people have strong opinions about what is important to them if they become very ill. Others may have certain things they would rather avoid. It’s important to tell your loved ones and your health care team about your values and beliefs. Ask yourself:
✓ What fears do you have about getting sick?
✓ If you were very sick, are there any
specific kinds of treatments that you think would be too much for you?
Choose someone you trust as your health care proxy (also known as an agent or surrogate) to make decisions for you when you are not able to make them yourself. Talk to your proxy — and your health
care team — about the type and scope of care you would want to receive — and keep talking! Revisit the subject often to make sure they understand your wishes. Let them know if you change your mind.
Document your choices. Write down
or record yourself talking about the type of care you would want — or not want. Create or update your Advance Directives. Share copies with your health care team and your designated proxy.
Complete the checklist on the other Notes:
side to get started.
“It always seems too soon… until it is too late.” — Ellen Goodman, American journalist and founder of The Conversation Project theconversationproject.org
My Advance Care Planning Checklist ✔ Check all that apply 1. I have completed or updated one or all of these Advance Directives documents: DONE
Living Will Medical Power of Attorney (also known as a durable power of attorney for health care), naming the person I want to make health care decisions for me 5 Wishes Document If I am being treated for a serious illness, I have asked my Primary Care Team about: Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST); DMOST for Delaware residents Palliative Care
2. I can answer YES to each of these: DONE
My Advance Directives are signed, witnessed and notarized (if required by my state). My health care proxy has a copy of my signed Advance Directives. My Primary Care Team has a copy of my Advance Directives for my medical record. I know where my Advance Directives are so I can take a copy with me to the hospital. My close family and friends know where I keep my Advance Directives. I have reviewed my Advance Directives within the last two years, or more recently if I have had a major health or life change (married, divorced, widowed, moved to another state), or if I have changed my health care proxy. I know who has a copy of my Advance Directives in case I make changes and need to provide updated copies.
Important tip: Keep Advance Directives documents safe. Store Medicare and
supplemental insurance cards, and your medication list in a secure place where you can easily get to them — not locked in a safe deposit box!
Download additional copies of this checklist and Advance Directives forms at eBrightHealthACO.org 22ACO47