End of Life Planning begins with an in-depth
discussion about your values, wishes and beliefs; It is an ongoing process. Values,
wishes and beliefs mean different things; here you can focus on big values-faith-or small values-sitting down with the family for support. This subject needs
to be revisited from time to time because people’s views can change depending
on a variety of circumstances: health concerns, new medical procedures, new
relationships.
While many of us would prefer not to think about
the end of life, consider for a minute question like these:
1. Would I want to die in a hospital or at home?
2. Do I want extreme life-sustaining measures at the end or not?
3. If I can't make decisions about the treatment I want, who should decide
on my behalf?
4. What happens to all my "stuff" after I am gone?
5. Will tidying my affairs be a huge burden on my family and friends?
6. How will people remember me?
7. Did I "make a difference" in my time on earth?
As a workshop facilitator for health and wellness, we
have a series of workshops on Personal Planning or End of life planning. The questions
above are important as a starting point to help you plan and so they are important.
Some may consider all of the questions important, while others may think that only one
or two are important. The problem is that if you wait to think about these
questions until the last minute, it may well be too late to tell anyone what
you want. Hence the need for "end of life planning".
The idea is to think things through in advance,
document what you want, and share your views with those who will be impacted
and can help make things happen the way you want.
No matter where you live, for each of the three areas
of end of life planning (end of life care; tidying your affairs; legacy), the
planning process boils down to two steps:
Step 1: Understand the choices, and make some
decisions
Step 2: Document and communicate what you want —
usually, in the form of some specific documents’ others have developed for the
purpose. The documents in every jurisdiction will be different so you should
become familiar with those you need in your area.
While making the decisions and communicating them
is the essential first step, unless you capture the decisions in a set of
appropriate documents it turns out all that thinking and deciding might be
wasted. At the end of life, the legal system and the healthcare system are
inevitably involved with what happens, and unless there is the right paperwork,
you don't get what you want.
So, ... a good way to approach this is first to
understand what you want and what you need it to look like, and then take a
step back and think about making the right decisions, so you can fill out the
documents required in your area, appropriately.
The good news is that there is quite a lot of
educational material out there to support this whole process, and a number of
organizations that have put a lot of work into making the process of learning,
deciding, and documenting as easy as possible.
In BC we have the following organizations that you
can turn to for support. Each jurisdiction will have different organizations
and different levels of support. I suggest doing a “Google” search for “End of
Life Planning (your location)”
•
811 Health Link BC Health Link BC https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-feature/Advance-care-
planning
•
Advance-care-planning https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-
supports/seniors/health-safety/advance-care-planning
•
Advance-care-planning Canada http://www.advancecareplanning.ca
•
Alzheimer Society of BC provides information and support to
alleviate the personal and social consequences of Alzheimer’s disease and other
dementias. www.alzheimerbc.org
•
BC Government Advance Care
Planning https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-
supports/seniors/health-safety/advance-care-planning
•
Doctors of BC https://www.doctorsofbc.ca/news/advance-directives
•
Health Care Consent laws
are changing https://www.doctorsofbc.ca/sites/default/files/advance-
•
directive-primer_booklet_webupdatedfeb72013.pdf
•
Law Students’ Legal Advice
Program Clinics, law students from the University of British Columbia offer
free legal help with some legal matters. 604-822-5791, www.lslap.bc.ca
•
Lawyer Referral Service,
offers referrals to lawyers who can provide up to a half-hour consultation for
$25. Lower Mainland: 604-687-3221, Toll-free: 1-800-663-1919, lawyerreferral@bccba.org
•
Medical Order for Scope of
Treatment Brochure https://www.fraserhealth.ca/-/media/Project/FraserHealth/FraserHealth/Health-Topics/Advance-care-planning/medical_orders_for_scope_of_treatment_brochure.pdf
•
Ministry of Attorney
General provides information about planning for incapacity. www.ag.gov.bc.ca/incapacity-planning
•
No CPR Form https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-feature/no-cpr-form
•
My Voice: Download in
whole or in part at www.gov.bc.ca/advancecare
•
Nidus Personal Planning
Resource Centre and Registry, provides detailed information about end of life
planning. info@nidus.ca, www.nidus.ca
•
Nidus advance directive
handout http://www.nidus.ca/PDFs/Nidus_FactSheet_Advance_Directive.pdf
•
Public Guardian and
Trustee offers advice on Advance Care Planning 604-660-4444, www.trustee.bc.ca
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