NIU College of Law Health Advocacy Blog

On Tuesday, March 27, 2018, the NIU Health Advocacy Clinic will host its annual Power of Attorney (POA) Day. This event provides the guests of PADS and TLC as well as the general Hesed House Community an opportunity to complete a Power of Attorney for Healthcare, free of charge. What is a Power of Attorney for Healthcare? A Power of Attorney is a document that allows you to designate a person of your choice, called a health care agent, to make health care decisions for you in the event that you are unable. For example, if an accident left you in a coma, then your healthcare agent would decide on your behalf whether life-saving measures should be used and if so, which ones. The most important part of picking an agent is ensuring you select someone that knows what your medical wishes are and that you trust will implement your wishes in case you are unable. A Power of Attorney is an important document to have for oneself. This document trumps any influence of family members, fri...

Prior to this first day meeting my Health Advocacy Clinic (“HAC”) client, the only experience I had with client interviewing was at my graduate assistantship. However, my interactions in those interviews was limited since my supervisor was the lead investigator role. That said, I was finally able to take the “lead” when interviewing my HAC client, and I was truly looking forward to the experience. Before meeting my HAC client, I did a couple things to prepare. One, I made a script of main discussion points that I wanted to be sure to bring up during the interview.  Two, I worked to memorize the first 20-30 seconds of my script so that my interview would have a “natural flow.” This would allow me to quickly build rapport with my client. The day finally came to meet my client and my nerves were getting the best of me in anticipation of his arrival. Ironically, my client had to cancel the meeting and rescheduled for the following week, so I used the additional time to conti...