Arizona Long Term Care System
ALTCS Emergency And Urgent Care Services
An emergency is a sudden condition that puts your life in danger or can cause harm to you if not treated fast. Examples are:
- very bad bleeding
- seizures
- broken bones
- trouble breathing
You can get emergency care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you need emergency care, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital emergency room even if it is outside your acute health plan’s network. You do not need an approval for emergency care.
Hospital emergency rooms should not take the place of a doctor’s office. If you need care right away, but are not in danger of lasting harm or losing your life, you can go to an urgent care center. If your doctor cannot see you right away and you have an urgent problem go to an urgent care center. Urgent care is also called after hours care.
Examples of urgent problems include:
- a cut that needs stitches
- sore throat
- the flu
If it is late at night or on the weekends, your doctor has an answering service that will get a message to your doctor. A doctor will call you back and tell you what to do.
Decisions About Your Health Care
There may be a time when you are so ill that you cannot make decisions about your health care. If this happens, advance directives are documents that protect your right to refuse health care you do not want or to request care you do want. You have the right to be given information on how to create an Advance Directive.
There may be a time when you are so ill that you cannot make decisions about your health care. If this happens, advance directives are documents that protect your right to refuse health care you do not want or to request care you do want. You have the right to be given information on how to create an Advance Directive.
There are four kinds of Advance Directives:
Life Care Planning Packet
Life Care Planning Packet – Large Font
Life Care Planning Packet – Spanish
Paquete de Planificación de la Atención en Vida
- Living Will – A paper that tells your doctor the care you do or do not want if you become ill and may die. It can say if you want to be fed through tubes or kept alive with machines;
- Durable Medical Power of Attorney – A paper that lets you pick a person you trust to make decisions when you cannot.
- Durable Mental Health Power of Attorney – Names a person to make decisions if you are unable to do so.
- Pre-Hospital Medical Care Directive (DNR) – States your wishes about not wanting certain lifesaving care given outside a hospital or in an emergency room. This form must be printed on Orange Paper.
Life Care Planning Packet
Life Care Planning Packet – Large Font
Life Care Planning Packet – Spanish
Paquete de Planificación de la Atención en Vida