Deborah Laxson is the founder of the Health Care Agent Literacy Project and author of the award winning book The Gray Zone: When Life Supports No Longer Supports Life.
Deborah's mission is to help educate about the sometimes overlooked but very important role of the health care agent (i.e. the person who would speak for you if medically you were unable to speak for yourself). In her own experience, Ms. Laxson learned how different the roles of wife and health care agent are from each other. Because she is non-medically trained, she provides a perspective to those in the medical field regarding how information can be more clearly communicated.
Through funding from the Lake Region Foundation, we are so fortunate to have Ms. Laxson coming to Fergus Falls. With the Thanksgiving holiday coming, this could be an opportune time for families to come together and discuss who would best serve as your health care agent/s, and to dialogue about what quality of life means to you and your wishes for end of life care.