Period: January 2019 – Present
Vision: Inspire Residents to Assign a Health Care Agent
Mission: The Speak(easy) Howard campaign is a Howard County initiative that helps residents think through their preferences for care, talk about them with loved ones, and name a health care agent, the person you choose to make medical decisions if you can’t.
Website: https://speakeasyhoward.org/
Addtional Resources: https://speakeasyhoward.org/partners
- Designed and Hosted 2 Experiential Events
- 20 Event Attendees Assigned Agents
- Participated in Multiple Facilitation Trainings
- Volunteered as Facilitator and Support Volunteer for Additional Events
- Developed Community Relationships to Inspire Faith Leaders to Engage with the Campaign and Facilitate Events of Their Own
The Horizon Foundation, along with many community partners, is leading the campaign to inspire community members to assign a Health Care Agent to speak for them when they can’t speak for themselves.
The first year of the campaign included a community-wide collaborative facilitated by The Conversation Project and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Health care providers, faith leaders and community groups participating in the collaborative became experts on advance care planning.A large-scale public campaign launched in 2018 to widely encourage all Howard County residents to take these first two important steps.
Why Speak(easy)? Ninety percent of people say talking with their loved ones about their preferences for care is important. Yet only 27 percent have actually done so (The Conversation Project National Survey, 2013).
There are plenty of reasons why, and they might differ for each of us. But the bottom line is this – when we have people who depend on us and people we love, we owe it to them to make a plan and talk to them about it. That way we don’t leave them with burden or uncertainty, and we all get more peace of mind.
Speak(easy) Howard’s goal is to make it easier for every adult in our community to take these steps, by offering step-by-step help, events, and plenty of other resources. We truly believe that our medical care should be up to us, and making and sharing our plans now allows us to ensure that it will be.