Specific information about Advance Care Planning background and goals

1. Bio for ACP work groups
Hello. My name is Merilynne Rush. I am on the Washtenaw Health Initiative Advance Care
Planning Committee. I am a certified Respecting Choices® First Steps Facilitator and
Trainer, and have a graduate certificate in Hospice and Palliative Studies from Madonna
University. My background is as a nurse and midwife in the home setting. I am not
currently associated with any clinic or hospital.
As a free agent doing Advance Care Planning in the community, I am intersecting with folks
far upstream from most others doing ACP work. I facilitate the monthly Ann Arbor Death
Café, which I founded in 2012, and I do individual and family consultations in the home. I
am aware of many organizational efforts to embed Advance Care Planning throughout the
continuum of care in Michigan. I am convinced that ACP can only partially be done in a care
setting; engagement and education prior to end-of-life medical care, and outside of the
bounds of healthcare entirely, is essential to successful planning, family involvement, and
fulfillment of patient’s wishes.
In May of 2016 I coordinated a community education course in conjunction with Angela
Hospice and St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia that took place on four consecutive
Wednesday evenings. At the first meeting most folks wondered why they needed to attend
a four-week course on how to sign one document. By the end most were wishing we could
meet again and/or have some follow-up to help them complete their Advance Care
Planning with their family and their advocate; they realized that it is an ongoing process
and it is not easy.
With my knowledge and perspective, as well as my academic preparation in this area, I
want to be of service to those who are developing ACP programs in communities and
throughout the continuum of care.