Saint Michael's Medical Center to Observe
National Healthcare Decisions Day

NEWARK, N. J. –– Saint Michael’s Medical Center is joining other national, state and community organizations in raising public awareness about the importance of advance healthcare decision-making. On Thursday, April 16, 2009 the hospital will observe the second annual National Healthcare Decisions Day by providing free information and tools to educate the public about how to discuss their wishes for their medical care with family, friends, and health-care providers.

Hospital representatives will be available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the hospital’s St. Joseph Courtyard —just off the main lobby of the medical center, which is located at 111 Central Avenue in Newark — to answer questions and to help participants learn how to execute a written advance directive (a health-care power of attorney and living will). This document can help patients communicate their wishes with their family and physicians in the event that patients become unable to speak for themselves.

“National Healthcare Decisions Day is helping people to make thoughtful, informed decisions about their health, and to communicate these decisions to their doctors and loved ones in times of need,” said Robert H. Evans, chief executive officer of Saint Michael’s Medical Center. “We encourage anyone with questions about healthcare decision-making and advance directives to visit Saint Michael’s on April 16.”

More information about National Healthcare Decisions Day is available online, at www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org.

Established by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in 1867, Saint Michael’s Medical Center is a 357-bed regional tertiary-care, teaching and research center in the heart of Newark’s business and educational district. The Saint James Campus in Newark’s East Ward and the Columbus Campus in the North Ward deliver key non-acute services, including 24-hour emergency care. They serve as a “front door” to the inpatient, outpatient, and clinic services available at Saint Michael’s Medical Center. Saint Michael’s Medical Center is a member of Catholic Health East (CHE). Based in Newtown Square, PA, Catholic Health East is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems, with 33 hospitals in 11 states. More information is available at www.che.org and www.smmcnj.org.