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The Advance Health Care Directive Spring 2018
The Advance Health Care Directive and Why You Need One
by : Cheryl Lynn Nelson, CP. | Plan-18 | Republished from 2018
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As an estate planning paralegal, on occasion, I will conduct trust signing meetings with clients to review and explain the documents that comprise his or her estate plan. The last document that is discussed is the Advance Health Care Directive. Why? Because it is the one document that generates the most conversation. Really.
If you aren’t already familiar, the Advance Health Care Directive is a document that provides the principal (you) with an opportunity to express your wishes about your medical care in advance of a medical emergency. Most people don’t like to think about, or discuss, this particular document because it reminds him or her of their mortality. I get it. But…buses and trucks don’t discriminate. In other words, an accident can happen to you at anytime and most likely it won’t be a part of your plan. However, you have the ability to plan what happens after a possible accident; and your family will thank you for it.
Visualize yourself in these real-life scenarios….
You receive a call that mom has suffered a heart attack and the ambulance has taken her to the hospital. You rush to the hospital and the doctor informs you that your mother has complete heart failure and that the only thing keeping her alive is that machine that she is hooked up to. The doctor further explains that due to her age and physical condition, your mother won’t survive heart replacement surgery; essentially, your mother will be confined to that hospital bed for the remainder of her life. You know that your mom wouldn’t want to be kept alive by a machine, she even wrote it out in her Advance Health Care Directive. As much as you don’t want to let her go, you know that this was her wish so you inform the physician and allow your mother to be removed from life support and pass away peacefully. This recently happened to a friend of mine and he was relieved that he did not have to make a decision about whether or not to keep his mother on life support because she had already expressed her
wishes in her Advanced Health Care Directive.
You receive a call that your loved one has been in an automobile accident and he or she is in surgery, but the chances of survival are very low. By the time you reach the hospital, your loved one is out of the operating room, but hooked up to every life-saving device imaginable because he or she can’t breathe without it and the prognosis is grim, at best. The doctor then informs you that your loved one has suffered irreversible brain damage and the only thing keeping him or her alive are those machines. What do you do next? Keep your loved one on life support and hope for a miracle? Take him or her off of life support? What would he or she want? I don’t know what to do! This happened to my family. My brother was only 21 years of age when he was in a fatal motorcycle accident and guess what? He did not have an Advance Health Care Directive; I mean who does at 21 right? Nonetheless, my mother had to try and answer all of the questions posted earlier while trying to grieve and grasp reality that her child was going to die. questions and guessing what you would want should you be in an accident or have a medical emergency. Would my brother have survived if he had an Advance Health Care Directive? No. But if he did have one, my mother would have known if he wanted to be kept alive or not, on life support, with no chance of recovery.
I know that preparing an Advance Health Care Directive isn’t a fun task; in fact, I’m sure that it’s on your list, just way at the bottom. I encourage you to try and make it a priority. Actually, every adult in your household over 18 years of age should have one. Oh yes, this means the new, young adult in the family should also prepare his or her own Advance Health Care Directive so that he or she can express his or her wishes and alleviate mom and dad from the burden of trying to make decisions during serious a medical crisis. Remember, accidents and medical emergencies happen to adults and to children… buses and trucks don’t discriminate.
My goal isn’t to scare you. My goal is to simply make you aware that horrible accidents and medical emergencies occur every day to families everywhere. The point is, to relieve you and your family of the burden of having to answer difficult
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Preparation for Music Production
By: Mark Kenoly | Producer, Song Writer, Musical Artist | http://www.kenolymusic.com
Alot can be said about music production, and truly only qualified people can bring you accurate information about it. With that in mind, let me first tell you what qualifies me to talk about this subject.
I am a 4-time Grammy Nominated record/music producer and a two-time Dove Award winner performer. I have written and played on some of the biggest hit songs in the music business, including hit movie soundtracks (Animal House starring John Belushi and Which Way Is Up starring Richard Pryor). Just one month ago, I had the number 4 hit song on the Apple Music UK charts, to name a few of my accomplishments. The difference between creating music that hits and creating music for your personal pleasure is always your approach to production. Production is simply making creative decisions about your tracks that appeal to your market. Your market is who you want to hear your music. If you create music just because you love to, your market is usually your friends and family. But if you’re going to reach the radio and media masses (internet, television, satellite radio, etc.), you will have to make more complex decisions. Sometimes these decisions may go against your creative convictions. But that’s okay. Reaching the masses means you must compete against what’s already out there. Then you must listen to what your competitors are doing, both creatively and technically. Sometimes you hear a song on the radio and think it sounds awful, but you must accept that the artist found something that appeals to the listening audience and is a way to get his song in the market. That deserves some credit. Question, locate, and identify what they are doing.
Is it the effects? Is it the performance? Is it the mix? Is it the unique sounds? Is it the old-school sound? Is it the tempo of the music? Is it the vocal delivery? These are just a few of the elements that go into music production (there are many more). If you don’t understand these principles, take some time to study to find out what these elements are. There is tremendous competition in the music industry, and not all music will impact the mass audience. You need to know what separates a hit song from something that does okay. There is an audience out there for you, but you must find it. I was a record producer/artist/songwriter on the Whitefield Records label in Los Angeles when I was younger. We had tremendous competition for having a song placed on the label’s major artists. I was blessed enough to learn a massive amount of industry protocols for Kenoly Music Production, from one of the giants in the industry, Norman Whitefield. It was there where I first learned that there is no bad song, just songs that are not right for certain artists. Matching the correct song, production, performance, and energy is a unique skill worth taking the time to study. Find an experienced producer to help you understand your music production project and give your music the best chance possible.
