Decisions about jobs, relationships and personal liberties are made every day, but a graduate student at Bowling Green State University has made it easier for advance health care decisions to also be included.

“Especially, bear in mind that COVID has taught us many things about how fickle life is, and advance care planning can help people approach life’s decisions in a more confident manner,” Edoseawe Okoduwa, a graduate student in the master’s program in health service administration, said.

He has been interning with the Advance Care Planning Unit of the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio, headed by his professor and unit director Barbara Gunning, Ph.D.

“They have created a way of creating advance directives free of charge, right from the comfort of their homes, online,” Okoduwa said. “ACP is a crucial health media campaign designed to help improve the quality of life of Bowling Green residents, students and the entire community of Bowling Green.”

The paperwork and decision-making is sharable with family, insurance companies and health care providers.

The organization targeted 30 different groups that fall into three categories: general population, racial and ethnic minorities and young people.

“It’s based on research that shows young people, especially those that are in racial and ethnic minorities, are quite a sensitive demographic,” Okoduwa said. “There is a wealth of information that shows Blacks, Hispanics and Asians have a worse health outcome compared to white Americans.”

He said that there are several reasons for this, but there is distrust from incidents like the Tuskegee experiments, from 1932-72, and other racism, as well as socioeconomic status.

“Who needs this the most? Those who are less inclined and are less able to access the information,” Okoduwa said. “And for young people, the issue is that young people feel invincible. I’m a young person and we usually think of what we are going to get from something, without probably thinking of the consequences and implications of our choices.”

They get a document called Advance Directives, which includes who gets appointed as an agent.

“It’s a process of thinking ahead about what the individual’s wishes are, if, for any reason, you become unable to speak for yourself,” Okoduwa said.

The agent then communicates those desires for the individual and they are pre-submitted to anyone in the health care process.

Okoduwa said that according to the Centers for Disease Control, ACP is all about “doing what you can do to ensure that the health care treatment you may receive is consistent with your wishes and preferences should you be unable to make your own decisions or speak for yourself.”

April was the National Healthcare Decisions Month, and to mark this year’s activities, the HCNO is conducting a media campaign to raise public awareness about advance care planning for both old and young individuals in BG and its immediate environs.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has rocked our world – mainly because it caught us off guard. Yet, as we rebuild, we believe that proactive planning and decision-making are crucial for securing our future,” Okoduwa said.

The website planning pages can be found at https://www.hcno.org/regional-programs/advance-care-planning/.