Caring Community - Planning

A Caregiver's Challenge

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 15:06:04 -0700

Maryann Schacht, MSW, BCD, is an author, speaker, and workshop leader with more than 30 years experience working with families in crisis. Her book titled A Caregiver’s Challenge: Living, Loving, Letting Go offers a road map and survival guide to everyone who is suddenly thrust into a caregiver role. She combines her personal experience caring for her terminally ill husband with her professional expertise in this invaluable resource. A Caregiver’s Challenge offers support, resources, and useful exercises for caregivers and their patients.

Maryann is frequently interviewed on national radio about caregivers and comfort care issues.

Advance Health Care Directive (English and Spanish)

Thu, 22 May 2008 10:42:21 -0700

The Advance Health Care Directive is a legally binding form that lets you exercise your right to give instructions about your own health care and/or to name someone else to make health care decisions for you in the event you are unable to speak for yourself. If you use this form, you may complete or modify all or any part of it. You are free to use a different form. In any case, agents designated and signatures required must be done in the manner prescribed on this form and mandated by the California State Legislature.

It is recommended that you use this form and complete the whole form. Completing this form will revoke any previous health care directives. It is advisable to also complete the Values Checklist we provide and include that as an attachment to your Advance Directive to help clarify your wishes.

Equally important is having meaningful conversations with people who care about you so that they know and understand your wishes concerning end of life care. Guidelines to help Talking Things Over are provided on this site to help you through the process.

Upon completion of your Advance Healthcare Directive, copies should be distributed to family members and those who would care for you in the event of a life-threatening condition. It is also recommended that you keep a current copy of your Advance Directive in the glove box of your vehicle.

PDF format

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in PDF format. (You need the free Acrobat Reader to open and print this file.)

DOC format

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in DOC format. (You must have Microsoft Word or a compatible program to open and print this file.)

en Espanol

Download Advance Healthcare Directive in Spanish

Aging With Dignity

Fri, 1 Oct 2004 21:08:54 -0700

The non-profit Aging With Dignity provides you with the practical information, advice and legal tools you need to ensure your wishes and those of your loved ones will be respected.

Californians' End-of-Life Care Differs by Race and Ethnicity

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:38:19 -0700

This important study and related reports released by the California Healthcare Foundation in March 16, 2007 reports that: In California, the most populous and diverse state in the country, significant racial and ethnic differences exist at the end of life. These reports â�� the first in a new series of CHCF-supported projects focusing on end-of-life issues - found significant variations in the expectations, experiences, and decisions of patients and their families in the months preceding death.

“As California’s diverse population grows older, ensuring quality care at the end of life for everyone takes on even greater significance,” Mark D. Smith, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of CHCF, said Thursday at the Association of Health Care Journalists conference in Los Angeles. “By supporting research and projects to improve the quality of end-of-life care, CHCF sees an opportunity to help make California a national example of best medical practices and culturally appropriate care.”

Cinco Deseos

Wed, 8 Sep 2004 18:58:28 -0700

[Five Wishes — Advance Directive Workbook]

2000 Envejecimiento con Dignidad Spanish language version of the popular guide to completing advance directives. Funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Obtain from: Aging with Dignity. $1 if ordering 25 or more.

Consumer Help Site - National Association of Social Workers

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:55:39 -0800

In thousands of ways, social workers help people help themselves. People of every age. From every background. In every corner of the country - wherever we’re needed - starting here and now. Welcome to your source for professional advice, inspiring stories - even a social worker directory. Social workers. Help starts here. This website is provided by the National Association of Social Workers and includes sections on Seniors and Aging, Issues and Answers, Mind and Spirit. The Senior section includes in-depth look issues of import, real life stories shared, resources of value, current trends, helpful tip, options and other information helpful for finding one’s way through the senior years. The Health and Well Being section includes information related to death and dying, living with illness, pain management, etc. The Mind and Spirit section includes orientation to various mental illnesses, grief & loss and other helpful information.

End of Life Values-Choices Checklist

Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:52:26 -0800

English

The End of Life Values-Choices Checklist is a form that lets you think about end of life choices and values, and commit them to writing.

If you prefer, you can download the End of Life Values-Choices Checklist in Microsoft Word (.doc) format.

Spanish

The End of Life Values-Choices Checklist is a form that lets you think about end of life choices and values, and commit them to writing.

If you prefer, you can download the End of Life Values-Choices Checklist in Microsoft Word (.doc) format.

Finding Our Way

Sun, 5 Sep 2004 18:12:22 -0700

Finding Our Way is a short course on death and dying in America today. These topics can't be avoided by any of us. The practical advice, resources, and personal stories in Finding Our Way can teach how to approach these most significant life events with the same kind of planning and emotional preparedness we strive for in the rest of our lives. We are finding better ways to live with dying in America.

Health Care Decisions

Wed, 1 Sep 2004 20:44:14 -0700

[Health Care Decisions]
Projecto de Hospicio del Valle (Hospice of the Valley) Educational booklet about health care decisions and advance directives. Presented in an easy to understand question and answer format.
1501 E. Flower, Phoenix, AZ 85014 (602) 222-2229

Obtain from: www.hcdecisions.org This may be a free resource.

Kaiser Santa Rosa Senior Resources

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 07:39:23 -0800

Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center provides this site to inform seniors and their caregivers about classes and resources of value. Programs are generally open to the community-at-large and include support groups for diabetes and classes concerning mental health, advance care planning, wellness through life’s end, managing ongoing conditions and many others. A link to the Kaiser Santa Rosa education catalogue is also provided along with links to area hospices and senior resources.

Link2Care - Information on every facet of caregiving for dementia

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 18:28:08 -0800

Free, convenient advice and support via your computer. Link2Care if for caregivers caring for people with dementia and covers every facet of caregiving for this population. You'll find help with care planning and decision making, timely articles, and a community of caring friends. You can consult an expert, one-on-one, for medical, legal and caregiving advice-it's all free, all available at your convenience. And the site is a secure, password protected site, for your privacy and confidentiality. Provided courtesy of Redwood Caregiver Resource Center, Santa Rosa, CA 707-542-0282 or 800-834-1636

Living Old: Frontline November 21, 2006

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:43:28 -0800

Living Old is one hour Frontline program filmed November 21, 2006 presenting a powerful and intimate journey into the uncharted territory of Americans living longer than ever — and what it means for them, their loved ones and our society. On this site you can view the whole program or individual chapters including:
The Stories-Living lives that neither the elderly nor their families ever prepared for.
Interviews-Doctors, one family’s story, and a conversation with a remarkable 94 year-old.
The Big Issues-What Needs to Change; Nursing Homes; Parents and Children; When Enough is Enough.

Opciones para el Final de la Vida: Lista y Guía de Valores

Fri, 3 Sep 2004 17:44:45 -0700

[Values Checklist — English and Spanish]

“Opciones para el Final de la Vida: Lista y GuÃa de Valores”- Community Network, Susan Keller

“End of Life Choices: A Values Checklist and Guide” - Community Network, Susan Keller

Excellent book for family conversations about values and quality of life. Available in Spanish and English

Obtain from: A Better Way Coalition (Idaho Residents and Programs) abetterway@cableone.net.

Free Outside of Idaho from Susan Keller, Community Network.

Promises to Keep: Changing the Way we Provider Care at the End of Life

Thu, 1 Mar 2007 08:44:32 -0800

Promises to Keep: Changing the Way We Provide Care at the End of Life published by the National Coalition on Health Care and The Institute for Healthcare Improvement. in October, 2000. This report presents the stories of institutions and organizations that made a commitment to change and innovation to improve care at the end of life. The profiles presented in this report reflect some of the most promising pioneering efforts underway in the field of palliative care. RAND’s Center to Improve Care of the Dying (CICD) staff worked closely with the National Advisory Panel of Americans for Better Care of the Dying to develop selection criteria for groups profiled.

Redwood Caregiver Resource Center

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 18:34:17 -0800

The Redwood Caregiver Resource Center (RCRC) is one of several Caregiver Resource Centers throughout California serving people with head trauma injury, dementia, Parkinson's and other brain impairment illnesses. The RCRC is located at 141 Stony Circle, Suite 200, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 and provides services to the north coast region including Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino and Humboldt counties. Toll Free 800-834-1636.