ElderWood Senior Care, along with other national, state and community organizations, is leading a massive effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision making - an effort that has culminated in the formal designation of April 16, 2008 as National Healthcare Decisions Day.

On Wednesday, April 16 at 7 p.m., ElderWood Health Care at Crestwood, located at 2600 Niagara Falls Blvd. in Niagara Falls, will hold a free informational seminar on advance healthcare planning.

Attendees will learn:
-- How advance directives can help you make sure your health care wishes are followed if you are unable to make decisions for yourself.
-- How to talk with your family and friends about your health care wishes.
-- The difference between a health care proxy and a living will, and why individuals should use these forms to document their wishes.
-- Why advance directives are for everyone 18 and up, not just the elderly and the chronically ill.

Each attendee will receive a packet of information that includes a health care proxy and a living will. Presenter Chaplain Deborah Tyler will be available after the seminar to answer individual questions. The seminar is free and open to the public. RSVP by Monday, April 14 to ElderWood Health Care at Crestwood, 716-215-8000.

If you cannot make it to the seminar, the health care proxy and living will forms are available free for download at www.elderwood.com and at the reception desks of all ElderWood Senior Care locations.

"As a result of National Healthcare Decisions Day, many more people in our community can be expected to have thoughtful conversations about their healthcare decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known," said Michael Murphy, ElderWood executive director of skilled nursing operations. "Fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient, and healthcare providers and facilities will be better equipped to address advance healthcare planning issues before a crisis and be better able to honor patient wishes when the time comes to do so."

ElderWood Senior Care provides skilled nursing, subacute care, rehabilitation, assisted living, independent living, memory care, cardiovascular transitional care and respiratory care to more than 3,500 people each year at 17 locations in western and central New York. Nine ElderWood skilled nursing facilities have earned the Step I Quality Award from the American Health Care Association, the most prestigious honor in long-term care. Four have earned the Step II Award. For more information, visit www.elderwood.com.