My Care, My Plan: Speak Up Sonoma County is an Advance Care Planning community initiative. It aims to encourage everyone age 18 and older to contemplate, communicate about, and document their health care wishes.
Our initiative is a project of Health Action, a collaborative community effort to get citizens involved in creating a healthier Sonoma County. My Care, My Plan links organizations and individuals from the private, public, nonprofit and volunteer sectors, including local health care and social service organizations, to raise awareness about the importance of Advance Care Planning. The Sonoma County Human Services Department Adult and Aging Division provides support for the initiative.
My Care, My Plan is directed by a dedicated group of community leaders who volunteer on a steering committee. Additionally, physicians, nurses, social workers and administrators from all local health systems, nonprofit executives and other community leaders have helped to develop the curriculum for the initiative’s educational sessions on Advance Care Planning.
My Care, My Plan is a member of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, a collaborative of organizations and individuals that promotes high-quality, compassionate care for all Californians who are seriously ill or approaching the end of life.
About Margaret Marquez, MD:
My career at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa allows me the opportunity to work with esteemed colleagues in a world class medical center providing excellent medical care.
As a native Californian I have had the good fortune of completing all my education in the Golden State. My undergraduate degree was completed at the University of California, San Diego. I matriculated at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine where I earned a Doctorate of Medicine degree. Upon completion of medical school, I had the good fortune of completing internship and residency in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. After becoming board-certified in Internal Medicine, I finished a clinical fellowship in the Department of Geriatrics at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. I am board-certified in Geriatric Medicine. Recently I added a board certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine to my accomplishments.
My consultative Life Care Planning Service allows me to meet with members and their families/loved ones in a clinic setting. We sit down and explore the member’s values and goals of care. We talk about how the member wants to live with his/her illness and facilitate the communication of this information to others.
Over the years I have become a strong advocate assisting members communicate their goals of care to their physicians and their families. The Life Care Planning Service supports the member and their primary care physician by helping the member and their loved ones better understand their medical condition and their choices for care.