When Decisions Are Left Undecided
Advance care planning, also known as end-of-life and healthcare planning, empowers people to make decisions about the care they want to receive when they can no longer speak for themselves. Adults of any age can begin advance care planning although most people do so in later stages of life. Having clear decision-making capacity is required to make these decisions and sign legal documents like a medical or statutory durable power of attorney, living will, or a do not resuscitate (DNR) order. But what happens when someone hasn’t completed any advance care plans & no longer has capacity to do so? This situation presents ethical dilemmas for family and friend care partners as they are tasked with trying to decide what their person would have wanted. Join Amelia Card & Jess Ambiee as they discuss what to do when you have to make end-of-life care decisions for your loved ones.
Date July 17, 2024
Hosted By WellMed Charitable Foundation
Jess Ambiee, LCSW-S, ACHP-SW and Amelia Card, MSSW
Jess Ambiee, LCSW-S, ACHP-SW, is a licensed clinical social worker in UT Health Austin’s Comprehensive Memory Center within the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences. He is also a part of UT Health Austin’s Integrated Behavioral Health care team. He specializes in counseling, grief and loss, and advance care planning, and he provides support and resources to individuals living with dementia and their families. Additionally, Jess Ambiee is an assistant professor of practice in The University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work.
Amelia Card is a second-year MSSW student at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She is a two-year GRACE Scholar who completed her first-year internship at Capital City Village and now interns at the Comprehensive Memory Center at UT Dell Medical School. Amelia is committed to working with older adults, especially those with dementia & their care partners, and has a passion for group interventions that address their unique struggles. In addition to researching fall prevention for people with dementia she is also currently exploring musical interventions for people with dementia and their care partners. She loves spending time with her finance, her two dogs and her guitar.