April 16 has been designated National Healthcare Decisions Day, and Suffolk attorney Linda Sherfey will talk about health care advance directives at a program at Lake Prince Woods retirement community that is free and open to the public at 3 p.m.

Many people have not exercised their right to make decisions about their health care in the event they cannot speak for themselves.

“National Healthcare Decisions Day will help people understand that making future decisions includes much more than deciding what care they would or would not want,” said Judy Raymond, executive director of Lake Prince Woods.

Included in the decisions to be made are identifying care preferences and selecting an agent to express health care decisions if the patient is unable express that decision.

According to the Pew Research Center, 71 percent of Americans have thought about their end-of-life treatment preferences and 95 percent have thought of a living will, but only 29 percent have completed a living will.

For more information about the program, contact Denise Brown, resident services director, at 923-5513 or dbrown@uchas.org.