1. Boquete Hospice and Health Foundation provides free blood pressure checks at the Tuesday meeting and market from 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Look for our sign!
2. We have some medical equipment that can be loaned to the community, free of charge. We have several walkers, a wheelchair, a hospital bed, a bedside commode, some toilet risers, a small portable oxygen kit as well as other items. We remain willing to accept donations of additional working medical equipment, if you have something you no longer need and are willing to share with the community. To request or donate equipment, contact our administrator at 6781-9250.
3. Boquete Hospice and Health Foundation also wants you to have the following information:
BY KAREN HILL
A lot of us have invested in insurance, whether it be medical, life, auto, property or other insurance. All done for good reasons -- to protect ourselves and our families from unnecessary hardship.
But do you have insurance against lying on a hospital bed in agony undergoing medical procedures that may prolong your existence for a time, even though your condition is terminal?
Do you have assurance that you can die on your own terms as much as possible?
Do you have a way to protect your loved ones from prolonged anguish over your suffering?
Do you have a means to protect your finances so they are not drained or so that more debt is not actually created for your family to deal with upon your passing?
Under Panamanian law (Law 68), you may, through an Advanced Directive, make your end-of-life health care wishes known in advance or specify who may make decisions for you when you are no longer competent or able to make your wishes known. Remember that what you may expect to be reasonable end-of-life care based on the country from which you came may not match what happens here in Panama.
---- Part of the Advanced Directive process is creating a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. With the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, an agent or surrogate is appointed to carry out the health care wishes you have documented
----Another part of the Advanced Directive is The Living Will which documents your desire not to use "extraordinary measures" to prolong your life in a terminal situation and which directs your physician to honor your wishes.
Members of our community who have gone through the process of creating a Panamanian Advanced Directive offer this advice to those of us who haven't:
----Find an attorney who understands the importance of creating these documents and who will advocate for your wishes if you find yourself in the hospital. Word-of-mouth may provide good referrals to such attorneys.
-----Expect the actual documents to be different from the types of Living Wills you may have created elsewhere.
-----Make absolutely certain that your primary care physician is on the same page with you and is willing to implement what you have decided.
-----Understand that there may be some leg-work on your part to get copies of these documents into the right hands. Ask your physician and your hospital administration what you need to do.
With life's unforeseeable twists and turns, when is the best time, if not now?
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