Quincy Medical Group Hosts Event to Help Understand Advance Care Planning

Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) will join a nation­wide project and host a com­mu­ni­ty game event at First Bap­tist Church, 739 N. 8^th St. in Quin­cy on Wednes­day, July 9 at 5:30 pm to engage com­mu­ni­ties in impor­tant con­ver­sa­tions about med­ical deci­sion mak­ing. The event, fea­tur­ing the con­ver­sa­tion game Hel­lo, will pro­vide infor­ma­tion about how to pre­pare for future deci­sions about seri­ous and crit­i­cal health issues. 

“This game will help you pre­pare for sit­u­a­tions you may not have con­sid­ered before. It makes con­ver­sa­tions like these much more fun and mean­ing­ful,” said Shari Robesky, LCSW, LISW, Social Work­er and Behav­ioral Health Ther­a­pist at QMG. 

The advance care plan­ning top­ic can be dif­fi­cult, but it is a nec­es­sary one to dis­cuss. The com­mu­ni­ty game day event will bring peo­ple togeth­er for an enjoy­able dis­cus­sion about liv­ing well and qual­i­ty end-of-life care. Par­tic­i­pants will receive infor­ma­tion about med­ical deci­sion-mak­ing and an advance direc­tive that they may choose to com­plete. This event is a first step to advance care plan­ning, and every par­tic­i­pant will leave pre­pared to con­tin­ue the con­ver­sa­tion and take impor­tant steps to ensure their end-of-life care goals are known.

The Hel­lo events are part of a large, NIH-fund­ed research study led by Lau­ren Jodi Van Scoy, M.D. at Penn State Health Mil­ton S. Her­shey Med­ical Cen­ter, through her research pro­gram, Project Talk. Hos­pice Foun­da­tion of Amer­i­ca and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ken­tucky are part­ners on the project. Par­tic­i­pants who opt-in to par­tic­i­pate can receive up to $90 in gift cards for their time.

Learn­ing how best to engage com­mu­ni­ties in activ­i­ties such as these is cru­cial to improv­ing access to high qual­i­ty of care lat­er in life. This event will help local com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers have con­ver­sa­tions like these more often and more easily. 

“Whether you’re just start­ing to think about advance care plan­ning or want to learn more, this event offers some­thing valu­able for every­one,” said Robesky.

To RSVP or ask ques­tions, please call 217−222−6550, ext. 3508, or email srobesky@​quincymedgroup.​com.