New Web site drafts healthcare directives

By Alice Keesing
Advertiser Health Writer

A new state-supported Web site allows Hawai'i residents to draft advance healthcare directives laying out what they want to happen as they reach the end of their lives.

The free site is a collaboration between the Executive Office on Aging's Kokua Mau project and Healthcare Directive Partners.

The Web site is one mechanism to help cope with Hawai'i's aging population, which experts say is the state's biggest social challenge. In 1990, about one in six residents was 60 or older. That's expected to increase to one in four by 2020.

An advance healthcare directive is a legal document in which an individual can state his or her wishes regarding issues such as organ donation or withdrawal of life support. It can authorize another person to make healthcare decisions and the name the physician who has primary responsibility. A directive can be revoked or replaced at any time.

The site also has information on issues involved in caring for someone with an incurable illness or with diseases that can impair memory and decision making.

There is a resource directory, and you may ask medical and legal questions. Visit the Web site at www.myhealthdirective.com. For more information on Kokua Mau, visit www.kokua-mau.org or call 585-9977 or (800) 474-2113. Reach Healthcare Directive Partners at 587-4781.