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Minister of Seniors and Community Supports Encourages Albertans in Writing Personal Directives
Planning ahead helps you and your family
Make decisions now to ensure you are protected in the future
Imagine being in a coma after a car accident—who would make important decisions about your life? When this happens, families are in crisis and they would want to ensure that any decision they made reflected your wishes.
As Minister of Seniors and Community Supports, I encourage Albertans to write a personal directive and ensure their wishes are documented. No one likes to imagine the possibility of an illness or injury taking away their capacity to make decisions, but it does happen. It’s important to plan ahead for this possibility.
A personal directive is a legal document where you can write out your instructions and/or name an individual—an agent—to decide on personal matters if, due to injury or illness, you are no longer able to make personal choices. Having a personal directive will not only protect your wishes, it will also reduce the burden of uncertainty for your family and friends during a time of crisis. Along with health care providers, your family and friends will rely on your personal directive to make sure that your wishes are carried out.
Once you have written your personal directive, you can register it on the new Personal Directive Registry. The first of its kind in Canada, the registry is currently being developed to give access to health care providers so they will know if you have a personal directive. It will also tell them how to get in touch with your agent if you have named someone to speak on your behalf in case of a medical emergency.
Information on how to write and register a personal directive is available online at www.seniors.gov.ab.ca/opg. The website also lists upcoming personal directive information sessions being held in various communities across the province. Feel free to attend one of these sessions or call the Office of the Public Guardian at 1-877-427-4525 to have an information session organized in your community.
Honourable Mary Anne Jablonski
Minister of Seniors and Community Supports