It’s Not Too Late…

1. It’s Not Too Late… Your life. Your decision. Dr.FrancoisGregoire Dr.Simran Malhotra

2. Proposal • We propose making a short video message in the perspective of a person who can no longer speak for him or herself. The narration represents his inner thoughts and struggles related to his current end of life situation. The idea is to give the viewer a chance to envision the possible consequences of living without advance directives. • The goal is to provide awareness to the audience that the time to write advance directives is now or possibly relinquish their autonomy. This video will provide an eye opener for those who do not have advance directives and will hopefully encourage them to plan and act on writing them. • The motivation behind this project stems from daily struggles in the ICU setting dealing with unclear end of life directions from patients and families. This leads to great distress for not only the patient and their family but also the entire healthcare system. The photography symbolizes the setting and everyday decisions that are faced in modern ICUs. Although ICU is where we have personally encountered these issues, this video is applicable to other settings as well such as nursing homes or hospital wards.

3. Narration I knew that day would come but I never thought it would be today. Looking back I’ve lived 83 wonderful years. Here I am lying in a hospital bed, unable to breathe, eat or speak for myself. I’m sure my family knows what I want, or do they? I know it will be a tough road ahead because they love me but I’m sure they’ll make the right decision, or at least I think they will? I know my family must feel burdened right now but I hope they remember my values and beliefs. They can’t possibly think I would agree with this, or can they? I just hope they can make a decision based on what I would want. I need them to decide what the best options are for me, but how will they know for sure if I’ve never talked to them about it? There isn’t much left I can do lying here. I wish I could tell my doctor what I would want at the end of MY life, but I guess it’s too late now.

4. Advance Directives: Your voice when you can’t speak to the world. Stop. Think. Speak. Act. CONTACT YOUR DOCTOR TODAY OR VISIT www.nlm.nih.gov FOR MORE INFORMATION. IF YOU ALREADY HAVE ADVANCE DIRECTIVES, CONTINUE TO REVISIT THEM.

5. Narration: by Francois and Simran • Music written by Francois • Photography taken by Simran