Invigorating the Conversation on End-of-life Choices
2018 Navigating the Journey Family Caregiver Education Series

Considering end-of-life care options can be stressful and confusing for patients and their loved ones. Focusing on what is important and being motivated to meet goals and create new memories can fall to the wayside when mapping out end-of-life options. There are tools available, though, to bring individual purpose and dynamic direction to end-of-life planning.  
This talk will explore how creating a bucket list and writing a “Dear Doctor” letter can help express end-of-life wishes and guide treatment options.

Writing a bucket list helps you take time to reflect on your purpose and can keep you and your family motivated, especially when times get tough. Research suggests that establishing goals when a person knows they are dying can affirm the value that their life still has, even when it is limited in time and potential.

Writing a "Dear Doctor" letter can provide your doctor with a snapshot understanding about you as a person. Your culture, beliefs, and values shape what matters most to you in the last chapter of your life, and a “Dear Doctor” letter is a wonderful tool to communicate them.

“The letter can empower the patient and the family to take the first step and engage the doctor in a conversation on what the patient wants,” wrote Dr. VJ Perivakoil, a leader in geriatrics and palliative care at Stanford University Medical School, who piloted the Stanford Letter Project to encourage patients to take control of their end-of-life conversation.

These two tools will help you clarify what is important to you, which aides your loved ones in making sure your wishes are followed when you can no longer speak for yourself. In this presentation, you will learn how to use templates to create individualized documents for yourself, as well as how to best approach a loved one to write them for him/herself.

Presented by:  Sasha Holden, RN, Providence Hospice Clinical Educator
Sasha has worked with Providence Hospice since 2005. Prior to her work at Providence, Sasha earned her degree in nursing from OHSU and was an Oncology nurse at OHSU. Sasha believes end-of-life planning is not just about managing medications and medical procedures, but more importantly, she says, “It’s about honoring who you are as a person. Being able to communicate what brings meaning to your life with your medical team helps create a purposeful and insightful end-of-life journey.”

Thursday, May 10, 2018
6 - 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 5:30)
Providence Portland Medical Center
Cancer Center Amphitheater
4805 NE Glisan St.
Portland, OR 97213

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To register, call 503-215-7365