Junior Huang establishes The Advance Healthcare Directive Initiative

Taking the initiative: Christian Huang started his nonprofit, The Advance Healthcare Directive Initiative, over a year ago. Huang hopes to promote the use of Advance Healthcare Directives among young adults. Photo Courtesy of Christian Huang

By Zoe Howard

Executive Features Editor

Junior Christian Huang, president and CEO of The Advance Healthcare Directive Initiative, launched his nonprofit to give young adults access to Advance Healthcare Directives.

Huang started The Advanced Healthcare Directive Initiative with the goal of helping young adults create their own Advanced Health Care Directive. The document explains medical decisions a person wants to ensure that their healthcare wishes are honored even if they are not able to make the decision themselves. An Advance Health Care Directive appoints someone, such as a family member, to carry out their healthcare wishes.

“It’s pretty clear COVID has taken over the world; everybody’s getting infected and everyone’s getting sick and getting put into these hospitals,” Huang said. “I think this shows how important Advanced Healthcare Directives are because when you’re in the hospital, whether you’re on a [ventilator] or can’t talk, Advance Health Care Directives really come in handy because they basically tell your doctor your healthcare wishes.”

Huang first thought of the idea of creating The Advance Health Care Directive Initiative in November of 2019 after talking about it with his mother, Grace Lou, who is a lawyer. Since then, he has learned more on the laws for Directives and created a website, HealthCareDirective.org, where anyone 18 years or older can get started with the free Advance Healthcare Directive provided.

“It was pretty easy learning about all the laws and regulations for Health Care Directives because there are websites and other resources that helped explain it,” Huang said.

Schools are not teaching students enough about how to prepare for the future, according to Huang. The Advance Healthcare Directive Initiative makes it easy for young adults to set up their Health Directive.

“First, [my website is] free,” Huang said. “Lawyers are expensive for many people, and by offering a free Advanced Healthcare Directive, it is easier to access and complete for everyone. Secondly, my website is very simple and easy to navigate, so the steps may be easier to follow than another website or company that offers Healthcare Directives.”

So far, Huang has had his friend’s siblings use his website to experiment and to collect feedback. But now, Hunag is working on spreading the word of The Advance Health Care Directive Initiative to help more people.

“I am a high school student,” Huang said. “I know how to make life planning appealing, simple, and non-intimidating for [young] adults.”

Huang hopes to start giving presentations to inform more people about his nonprofit over Zoom. According to Huang, he looks forward to seeing how young high school graduates and other adults use technology and his website to better prepare for the future.

“I know if I was a recent college graduate or just turned 18, and I was becoming an adult, I would want all the resources I needed to support myself and become more independent,” Huang said. “I think the reward is knowing that I’m helping other people become more prepared for the world. People need to take advantage of my website and the Healthcare Directives I offer because as we can see from this unprecedented pandemic, anything can happen.”