Planning for Your Body’s Final Resting Place
We know this is not exciting stuff. In fact, it can be quite morbid to think your death and what happens next. Yet, it is one of the more important and potentially expensive decisions that need to be made at the end of your life. Why not make your plans in advance, to ensure you […]
Funeral Planning: Plan ahead for your grand finale!
We know this is not the most upbeat content to be reading, especially post COVID-19 where we know funerals had to take a drastically different approach than before. However, the key issue we want to highlight within this section is around the importance of planning ahead for your funeral (or a loved ones). We know […]
Legacy Planning: Live Today Like You’re Dying!
What is Legacy Planning? Many people think of legacy planning as a financial strategy that prepares people to pass on their assets to a loved one or next of kin after death. But this is an incomplete view on the matter. Legacy can encompass ‘anything’ that is passed down from one generation to another. It […]
What if I don’t have anyone to represent me?
One of the most frequent questions I am asked when I give public lectures on advance serious illness planning is, “What if I don’t have anyone to ask to represent me when I am seriously ill?” That’s a problem for which I don’t have an easy or satisfactory answer. The problem is of course that […]
Planning Perspectives: Thinking Ahead
The tagline for the Plan Well Guide website is: ‘to live well and to die well, you need to plan well’. As the creator of the Plan Well Guide website, let me tell you about why I chose that phrase and why it is so important to me personally. Begin with the End in Mind […]
Honouring ICU Professionals
October 23-29 is Canadian Intensive Care Week. It’s a time to profoundly reflect on the tremendous service our colleagues working in intensive care have rendered to society during the past years of the pandemic and continue to do so under such adverse circumstances. I spent more than 20 years working in the ICU in Kingston […]
Do You Have ‘Fixer Syndrome’?
I am a family caregiver to both my parents and my father-in-law. I value this role and wholeheartedly take on this responsibility to support my parents and in-laws in the final stages of their lives (for more on this see blog). As a critical care doctor, I am trained to diagnose and treat. I bring […]
How to Prevent Future Family Conflict
When a loved one is dying or experiencing a serious illness, family conflict can easily arise as decisions need to be made in an emotionally charged situation. How can we prevent future family conflict from happening? Much can be learned from those that have gone before you on the same path. When I am out […]
