Planning the End of Life, You Want

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 provide 

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