Dying is a universal experience.  Nearly everyone has a story about a good death or a hard death among those they love. The difference between these experiences may rest on whether or not we have thought about and shared our wishes for how we want to spend our final days.

CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW FOR RESOURCES TO HELP YOU THINK ABOUT AND DISCUSS YOUR HEALTHCARE GOALS AND VALUES AND DRAFT ADVANCE DIRECTIVES.

Click here to download and print a five-page legal-sized PDF from the Coda Alliance, summarizing various tools that help facilitate conversations about goals and healthcare. 

AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) is a United States-based interest group whose stated mission is "to empower people to choose how they live as they age".  Among a great deal of related information, AARP features the following information about advance care planning:

• Starting the conversation about end-of-life planning
• Facilitating discussions with adult children about end-of-life planning
  
  

American Bar Association (ABA) – Commission on Law and Aging seeks to strengthen and secure the legal rights, dignity, autonomy, quality of life, and quality of care of older adults.

• Consumer's Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Planning This tool kit is not an advance directive. It provides tools to help people think through the decisions that need to be made during advance healthcare planning.   
• Myths and Facts About Health Care Advance Directives
• Health Care Decision-Making
• Conversation Scripts – Getting Past the Resistance (pdf)
  
  

Caring Conversations - A program of the Center for Practical Bioethics.  The Center for Practical Bioethics, founded in 1984, is a Kansas City-based nonprofit nationally recognized for its work in practical bioethics.  You may download free ACP workbooks and other materials in both English and Spanish for personal use. 

CaringInfo.org, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization provides free resources and information to help people make decisions about end-of-life care and services before a crisis.  The website is now available in Spanish.

• Booklet: Conversations before the crisis – Provides ideas and examples of talking with family members about end-of-life issues.
  
  

The Conversation Project is an initiative of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, seeking to increase public engagement with a goal to have every person's wishes for end-of-life care expressed and respected.

• Conversation Starter Kits The Conversation Project has several conversation kits to help you have conversations with a family member, friend, or other loved one about your – or their – wishes regarding healthcare preferences. Kits are available in English, Spanish, and Chinese.  All the Starter Kits are available to download and print for free.
• Your Conversation Starter Guide
• Your Guide to Choosing a Health Care Proxy
• Your Guide to Being a Health Care Proxy
  
  

The Go Wish Game is a card game for sorting out values related to end-of-life decision-making, created by the Coda Alliance. The cards can help you find words to talk with family or friends about what is important if you were to be living a life that may be shortened by serious illness. Although there is a charge for ordering the card decks, Go Wish can be played online for free.  There is also a pediatric version of the game.

Five Wishes  For 25 years, Aging with Dignity’s Five Wishes advance care planning program has helped improve end-of-life care for millions of individuals and families across the nation.  This advance directive and guide are easy to use and available in 30 languages and in Braille.  It is available digitally and on paper for a nominal fee.  Digital versions can be electronically signed and witnessed and customized to meet legal requirements in all 50 states.  In addition, the digital service offers unlimited updates.  The paper version is legal in all states except New Hampshire, Kansas, Ohio, and Texas. 

National Institute on Aging is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.  The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life.

• Advance Healthcare Planning Information
• Ready, Set, Plan! NIA’s new email series will help you start planning for your future health care over seven weeks.
  
  

PREPARE  is an interactive online resource in English and Spanish that helps people learn about and prepare for medical decision making.  This evidenced-based tool features video stories and examples and guides people as they explore their wishes and learn how to discuss them with family, friends, and medical providers. The result is a ‘Summary of My Wishes’ document which can be shared with family and friends, caregivers, and medical providers.  PREPARE also offers easy-to-read, legally binding advance directives for all 50 states in English and Spanish.

The Stanford Letter Project seeks to help, empower, and support all adults to prepare for their future and take the initiative to talk to their doctors and their friends and family about what matters most to them at life's end.  This website offers free letter template tools available in eight languages along with real patient videos.

• The “What-Matters-Most” letter template. Simple letter templates in eight languages anyone can use to write to their doctor about their healthcare choices and
• The “Who-Matters-Most” letter The goal of the “Who Matters Most” letter template is to help all Americans complete the seven vital tasks of life review while they still can. Available in eight languages.
• The “Bucket List” tool. Assists patients to identify their life goals using six common choice areas.