You and your needs are unique! Below find answers to help best serve you.
Even though your needs are unique to you, everyone (18 years and older) can benefit from choosing a decision maker.
Colorado Medical Durable Power of Attorney Form
Choosing for Myself – What if I…
Learn more about advance care planning where you receive medical care.
For some individuals, the need for advance care planning may be immediate. If you find yourself in a hospital and are in need of advance care planning documents, the roadmap may be a helpful place to start. Most hospitals can also provide you with advance care directives that can be filled out while you are hospitalized.
Thank you for serving our country! Learn more about unique advance care planning documents for veterans.
In the VA health care system, in a medical crisis, the doctors will speak with your next of kin. It is important to complete a Medical Durable Power of Attorney form to select the person you want to speak on your behalf, unless you want the default selection process in the following order of priority: Health Care Agent; legal guardian or special guardian; next-of-kin (the next-of-kin is a relative, 18 years of age or older, in the following order of priority: spouse, adult child, parent, sibling, grandparent, and grandchild); close friend.
While the documents remain the same, learn more about the importance of conversations and writing down your wishes.
Welcome to Colorado! Check out the Roadmap for documents and information pertaining to Colorado. Also consider discussing any previous out-of-state documents with a medical provider or legal representative. We encourage you to bring copies of advance directive documents to your current healthcare providers.
Read about talking with adult children about your plans for final years of life in a sample chapter from the book “The Other Talk” by Tim Prosch.
Myself and Others – What if I…
It’s very important that people with memory issues make their own decisions while they can. The advance directives remain the same. Learn more about ways to ensure you or your loved one’s wishes are discussed, legally written down, and carried out.
Discussing your wishes in the midst of Alzheimer’s
For the Caregiver - Planning Ahead
For the Caregiver - End-of-Life Decisions: Honoring the Wishes of a Person with Alzheimer's Disease
Caring for Someone – What if I…
You are playing an essential role in the care of an older adult. You can find appropriate Colorado-specific advance directives on the Roadmap. Learn how you can prepare yourself for your caregiving role and help with advance care planning.
Learn strategies and testimonies of an extremely difficult conversation.
Learn about guardianship and how it coincides with advance care planning.
Colorado does not have specific Psychiatric Advance Directive forms. Learn more here.
Psychiatric Advance Directives
Spanish Resource Guide for Care Partners: Dementia Care - Colorado
English Resource Guide for Care Partners: Dementia Care – Colorado
Learn more on how to have advance care planning conversation with those you lead in your faith community.
I’ve always been interested in taking care of my family. We had just moved here back in 2003 to start a business and my wife’s father had just passed away about six months before, and we both sat around and said, “well, he would really be up for us to really update our wills.” We already had that set up in Missouri where we lived but we decided we probably need to update our wills and get these living documents together.
– A 65 year old man from Denver with Parkinson’s disease