Blood drive to be held in honor of Old Lyme native
Now, her family said there is a way for the community to come together and do something important in her honor: An
After Russell, 28, a 2007 graduate of
Russell, who spent about six weeks at
"I think it's wonderful that the community is coming together for a blood drive," said Russell, who is the daughter of
The goal of the blood drive is to bring the community together and collect 60 to 70 pints of blood, and also to encourage people to prepare -- or at least start thinking about -- documents that would direct their financial and medical decisions, if they find themselves unable to do so in the future.
For
In the first few days following her accident,
While her sister's medical path forward was very clear and her family had no issues in making medical decisions,
That's why she said preparing an advance medical directive or having conversations with people ahead of time is important, and she's hoping to raise awareness of the issue.
"Some of what I hope comes out of this is people start having those hard conversations about what they would want and who and why they're assigning someone to make medical choices for them,"
She also is encouraging people to consider if they know someone they could trust to have access to their financial records and trust that the person only would use those privileges in such a medical emergency.
While in the hospital, the family wanted to make sure
"Until we had power of attorney in place, no one would talk to us,"
While it may be more common for elderly people to have these documents in place,
Downloadable forms for an advance directive and power of attorney have been posted on the town website, under the forms and documents link. Notary Publics will be available at the event, and the town also is looking for additional volunteers.
"Part of putting these documents in place is making it easier on your family," she said. "If one of these things does happen, then they at least feel confident that they're making choices that you would want."
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