When Angelica Allison’s grandmother was about to pass away, she shared her deepest fear with her granddaughter: Who would take care of her three children with disabilities and special health care needs when she no longer could?

Angelica, who had been raised by her grandmother, reassured her that all would be well.

“You don’t have to worry about that. As long as I’m alive, I’ll do everything in power to take care of them,” Angelica said.

More than 20 years have passed since then, and Angelica has kept her promise.

Two of Angelica’s uncles, whom she considered brothers, have since passed away. Another uncle, Santiago, 64, lived in Costa Rica but dreamed of visiting the U.S.

Angelica calls him Santi, and he recently came to Fort Collins, where Angelica has lived for more than 30 years.

It was during his visit that Angelica and Santi decided to visit with experts at the Aspen Club, a UCHealth organization that advocates for health in northern Colorado.

Founded in 1989, the Aspen Club offers programs and services to help people ages 50 and older live healthily and independently.  Aspen Club educators encourage people to stay physically active. They also offer educational services including support on how to create advance directives for health care.

Aspen Club serves people in Larimer and Weld counties and has more than 13,300 members.

Aspen Club also partners with UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont to provide programs for older adults.

For older adults, having advance directives is critical. As challenging as it is to think in advance about accidents or death, people need to convey their wishes to loved ones. A vital part of that planning is deciding who will make medical decisions on your behalf if you’re unable to make decisions for yourself.

Bilingual assistance for Spanish speakers who need help with advance directives for health care

For people who need support in Spanish — like Santi — the Aspen Club offers bilingual assistance during in-person appointments or by telephone.

“I was very worried that if something happened to Santi while he was here in the United States, things were not going to be good for him or for me,” Angelica said.

That’s when Kat Laws, an Aspen Club community health educator, stepped up to help Angelica and Santi.

Angelica had created her own advance directive documents two years earlier, but she hadn’t been able to set up any documents for Santi.

“We got an interpreter because Santi only speaks Spanish,” Angelica said.

It felt great for Angelica to get everything in order for Santi and to live up to her promise to always take care of him.

“Before that, I didn’t have anything in order,” she said. “Kat was excellent. We had a very good experience with the Aspen Club.

“With Kat’s support we did everything, and Santi was very happy. I explained that it was just in case something happened to him,” Angelica said.

“The Aspen Club has a really good process, and I will be eternally grateful. On top of that, it’s free. We didn’t have to pay anything for their help,” Angelica said.

Language barriers don’t need to be a barrier. Help is available in Spanish

Angelica encourages others to seek free help and prepare their advance directives.

“I have learned that it is important to have everything ready. You never know what could happen. Being prepared and having a plan of action is crucial in anyone’s life,” Angelica said.

While many people delay the process of “getting everything ready,” Angelica said language barriers can also be an obstacle. But they don’t need to be.

Angelica wants others to know that great help is available for people who speak Spanish.

Laws said she loves supporting older adults and giving them guidance in both English and Spanish, with the help of UCHealth’s translation team.

“We have Spanish versions of all of our UCHealth advance directive documents,” Laws said. “There are a variety of tools available, and part of our job is to find which tool fits the patient’s needs.

“Patients share their values ​​and preferences. In this case, that’s what we did. Medical interpreters provide assistance in Spanish to explain the content of the documents and clarify questions,” Laws said.

Community partnerships

Along with connecting with UCHealth patients, Aspen Club health educators also have formed alliances with community groups like The Family Center/La Familia, a family resource center serving people in northern Colorado.

”We want to reach out to groups of Spanish-speaking older adults,” Laws said. “We bring in interpreters. We rely heavily on our partnerships to foster community engagement.”

JoAnn Herkenhoff, UCHealth’s community health improvement manager in northern Colorado region, said that the Aspen Club creates stronger communities for all residents in the region.

“Addressing the whole person really impacts their health, longevity and independence,” she said.

“We have nurtured a relationship of trust with communities we serve. We couldn’t do what we do without our community partnerships. We have more than 200,” Herkenhoff said.

Qualities of a responsible person

Angelica agrees with Herkenhoff that trust is vital, especially when people are dealing with tough decisions and must confront difficult topics like disabilities and death.

“When completing advance directives, it is important to have a deep understanding of the person. People need to be kind and caring and understanding of the needs of others. When you have someone in your care or someone you are helping, you need to be aware of what is going on in their personal life,” Angelica said.

Aracely Newman is a community worker in Fort Collins who has been friends with Angelica for over six years. Newman recognizes qualities in Angelica that make her well suited to make responsible medical decisions in the context of advance directives.

‘‘Angelica is very human-centered. She is always concerned about others and how she can help. She is a great person, and in all this time, I have witnessed how she supports others and how she does such a good job at work, in her family and with her friends., She is a person who is always there, who always gives everything for that person who needs her help,’’ said Newman, who met Angelica when they worked together on community service activities.

As an experienced community worker, Newman strongly encourages people to follow Angelica’s lead and prepare documents like advance directives.

“It’s important to have someone close to you who you can count on and plan for what could happen,” Newman said. “That helps everyone a lot, because the family also suffers when there is an illness with a loved one. Prepare yourself and identify who you can count on for a particular situation.”

Caring for caregivers

Stepping up to help with medical, legal and caregiving responsibilities — as Angelica has done with her family and community members — requires a great deal of physical and emotional energy.

Angelica knows that in order to take good care of other people, she needs to make sure she’s also taking good care of herself.

She’s Christian and always asks God for help and guidance.

“I pray and meditate a lot. I also try to go for walks, and when I need to, I get a massage from time to time to recharge. I love nature and I love plants, that is because my mother taught me to love plants. So, I like to have plants around me, and I love taking care of them. That makes me happy,” she said.

Advice for having tough conversations about advance directives decisions

It is important to discuss advance directives with a person whom you trust and to establish a plan early.

How to get started:

• Step 1: Think about and decide what matters to you so you have a say in your health care.
• Step 2: Decide on one to three people who need to know what matters to you, and who you trust to make your medical decisions when you can’t.
• Step 3: Talk with these people and make sure you are on the same page, and that they are OK with you providing their phone numbers and addresses to UCHealth to list them as your Medical Durable Power of Attorney (MDPOA).
• Step 4: Fill out a Medical Durable Power of Attorney form in My Health Connection or from uchealth.org.

Help is available in English and Spanish.

Benefits of completing your advance directives include:

• Have peace of mind that you have done what you can to plan ahead.
• You are more likely to get the care you want.
• Your family and loved ones will be able to cope better with grief if they know that a loved one had a say in the care they wanted.