End of Life Planning: Learnings from Dying Matters Week

End-of-Life Planning Essentials

An Advanced Care Plan helps you to plan the health care you want in the future. It contains decisions about your personal, cultural and spiritual values, and your instructions and wishes for health treatment and end of life care to be followed if you are unable to tell family and carers what you want. More about advanced care planning…

A Will sets out how you would like your estate (your property) to be divided once you pass away. You can specify who you want to appoint as your executor(s), who will be the person or persons to gather your assets and distribute them in accordance with what is dictated in your will. More about Wills…

A Power of Attorney sets out who has authority to act or make decisions on your behalf. There are different types of Power of Attorney depending on whether the decisions relate to property or your personal care and welfare, and whether the authority ceases or continues to operate if you lose mental capacity. More about Power of Attorney…

The Go With Grace Plan sits alongside and supports the other three documents, covering important aspects of planning such as information for the death certificate, farewell planning, your reasoning behind choices such as organ donation, cremation/burial, how you want to be remembered and death admin. Your plan can be updated as often as you like and shared with others. More about a Go With Grace Plan…

Planning for ageing or poor health is another important aspect of planning ahead. Tanya Newman, Social Worker at North Haven Hospice spoke about the practical steps you can take now, to make the end of life easier. Her ‘Get Your Ducks in a Row’ presentation covered your home, types of care, care that is available at home, financial supports, the process of accessing residential care, creating a care team and the support services available. You can access her presentation here…

Feedback from event attendees

We asked attendees at Dying Matters Week events what the most interesting and relevant thing they learnt was at each event they attended. Below are a few of the responses…

• That just thinking about my future wishes needs to be a priority.
• Clarifying ‘Do not resuscitate me!’
• If you want to make sure assets etc go where you desire – Have a valid WILL!
• How assets are legally distributed without a will – ie the importance of having one.
• That on your will, your burial/cremation preferences, are just that. Your family can decide to bury, cremate etc.
• Helped me to realise – Advanced Planning is not as scary as I thought and is an empowering way to inform whanau and clarify your own thoughts for when/if, especially the unexpected happens.
• How to lodge my advanced plan and directives.