April 22, 2020
By Daren Heyland
The Lethbridge Herald
In response to all the media coverage regarding COVID-19, Dr. Heyland submitted an article highlighting some of the ways people can prepare for the pandemic, specifically preparing for serious illness. The key factor to prepare for serious illness is based around the notion of learning and understanding how medical decisions are made when seriously ill, along with what to say and how best to work with doctors, to ensure the medical care that is right for you or a loved one is obtained. For most people, any advance medical care planning that may have been done, has likely been focused on ‘end of life’ care, which will not be helpful in the current situation. Planning for end of life care, when you know for certain you are dying, is not the same as planning for serious illness. COVID-19 is an example of a serious illness where there is a probability of death but as well as a probability of survival.
To read the full article visit the link here: https://bit.ly/2wYoqEC
