Fredericksburg, VA, April 05, 2013 -- Mary Washington Healthcare, along with other national, state and community organizations, is leading a massive effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making—an effort that has culminated in the formal designation of Tuesday, April 16 as National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD).

On April 16 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Mary Washington Hospital and Stafford Hospital welcome the public to each hospital’s atrium to receive free information about advance care planning and advance directive forms.

As a participating organization, Mary Washington Healthcare is providing tools and information for the public to talk about their wishes with family, friends and healthcare providers, and execute written advance directives (healthcare power of attorney and living will) in accordance with Virginia state laws. These resources are available at http://www.marywashingtonhealthcare.com and http://www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org.

As a result of National Healthcare Decisions Day, many more people in our community can be expected to have thoughtful conversations about their healthcare decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known.

Fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient, and healthcare providers and facilities will be better equipped to address advance healthcare planning issues before a crisis and be better able to honor patient wishes when the time comes to do so.

Mary Washington Healthcare is a fully integrated, regional medical system that provides emergency, inpatient, and outpatient care through over 40 facilities and services including Mary Washington Hospital, a 437-bed regional medical center, and Stafford Hospital, a 100-bed community hospital. Mary Washington Healthcare is a nonprofit health system and has a long-standing commitment to provide care regardless of ability to pay. For more information about our services and facilities, please visit w ww.MaryWashingtonHealthcare.com.