What is Hospice Care?
Hospice care is for people who have learned from doctors that they are not expected to live much longer. It’s about easing pain and helping families prepare for the end of life. Hospice care focuses on the care, comfort, and quality of life of a person who typically has six months or less to live, […]
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is an approach to medical care that is designed to improve the quality of life for people at any stage of a life-threatening or chronic illness. The intent of this type of care is not to cure the disease, but to ease symptoms, stress and side effects before and after treatments. Oftentimes, palliative […]
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 […]
Looking After Yourself When Caregiving for an ICU Patient
Looking After Yourself When a Loved One is in ICU The rest of your life does not stop when your family member is admitted to the ICU. You may still have work commitments, a mortgage to pay, a house to maintain, or other family and pets to care for. It is important that you continue […]
When a Loved One is in the ICU
When a Loved One is in the ICU Visit Your Family Member: Most ICUs encourage visiting patients with few restrictions. You may feel comfortable doing this, or you may feel frightened or unsure of what to do. The ICU health care team can help you feel more comfortable. When a patient is first admitted to an ICU, it […]
Learn About the ICU
Learn About the ICU An Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a department in the hospital that provides specialized care for patients. It is sometimes also called a critical care unit. The health care team in the ICU has experience treating patients with severe and life-threatening illnesses or injuries. While your family member is in the […]
