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ST. GEORGE — Intermountain Healthcare's Dixie Regional Medical Center wants to help its residents plan for something a bit taboo to discuss: death.
The administrators have introduced a program that hopes to bring end of life discussions to the kitchen table, not the hospital waiting rooms.
"He was my buddy. We were kind of joined at the hip," said Marla Shelby-Drabner of her husband of 14 years, David, who died in 2016 after a pulmonary embolism. She calls that day a nightmare.
"In the state of Utah, if you have an unattended death for a non-hospice patient and my husband was not on hospice, you have to call 911. That sets off a three-ring-circus," Shelby-Drabner said.
David Drabner had a DNR, Do Not Resuscitate, order on file, but the responding emergency crews had no idea.
Despite a background in health care, Shelby-Drabner said she fell apart. "Two police cars, a fully staffed ambulance a fully loaded fire truck, CPR, intubation, resuscitation, pulling his body off the bed on to the floor where it was left waiting for the mortician some hours later," she said.
Shelby-Drabner has now teamed up with Intermountain's Dixie Regional Medical Center to make changes in advanced care planning.
"People should really think about the opportunity of advanced care planning being a gift that they can provide themselves and their family," Mary Helen Stricklin, Dixie Regional Medical Center director of nursing and palliative care, said.
To get that message to more people, Intermountain will partner with Respecting Choices, an internationally recognized program that opens the dialogue about end-of-life decisions.
"Respecting choices is really going to provide facilitators that help you and your family member with conversations and then draft the documents for you," Stricklin said.
"I hope that we can make that difference; at least we can start that ball rolling," Shelby Drabner said.
Stricklin said a great time to have these discussions are at Thanksgiving when the family is all together or make it part of your emergency preparedness planning.
