The Conversation Project, an effort founded jointly by Ellen Goodman and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, captures with a few simple statistics the profound problems that so many families experience as loved ones age:
–60% of people say that making sure their family is not burdened by tough decisions is “extremely important”…but 56% have not communicated their end-of-life wishes
–70% of people say they prefer to die at home…but 70% die in a hospital, nursing home, or long-term care facility
–80% of people say that if seriously ill, they would want to talk to their doctor about end-of-life care…but only 7% report having had an end-of-life conversation with their doctor
Source: The Conversation Project (2014)
The Conversation Project serves as a guide to help you reflect on what is important to you as you grow older. It provides some straightforward tools to help with those very important conversations with your loved ones about the kind of health care you want (or do not want) to receive at the end of your life. Many people think that drafting an Advance Directive is all you need to do, but that is only the first step. An Advance Directive appoints a person to speak for you if you are unable or unwilling to do so. If that person does not know what you would want, the appointment is of much less benefit to you.
Read more on The Washington Post website about the people and situations that inspired The Conversation Project, as well as the staggering effect that this epidemic problem is having on our Medicare system. Then, explore The Conversation Project website and try out their Starter Kit. We hope you will find these tools useful for having those difficult but important conversations.