Proactive Life Planning Guides

To Help You Live Well, Age Well and Die Well

We all hope that we will stay healthy and active as we age, and to not be a burden on our loved ones when we get older. But hoping is one thing, and taking action to influence the health of your “future self” is another. The evidence shows that if you are informed, empowered, and proactively managing your health and illnesses that arise, you are much more likely to achieve greater health, receive better care, and have a high-quality end of life experience.

 

The Guides

Plan Well Guide has created seven guides to assist you across your life journey, meeting you where you are at today and supporting you across life’s finish line. The guides are framed around future-oriented thinking and proactive life management.

They include topics like:

Making an Advance Serious Illness Plan which includes healthcare, personal care, financial, and legal preparations to protect you if serious illness or injury strikes

Improving your mental and physical health for aging well

Planning ahead for your death to make both your end of life and after-death care more reflective of your wishes

Navigating the medical system with greater communication tools and strategies as you or a loved one require caregiver support or experience a serious illness

You won’t necessarily need all of these guides today, depending on your stage of life, but they are easily accessible to help guide and support you when you need them.

Complete your Guides online and update at any time. When you’ve completed your Guides, you can download, print and share copies of your plans with the people that matter most.

Where are you in your life's journey?

Click to reveal which Plan Well Guide can support you where you are at today.

Working on my Health and Wellness

Enhancing

Kudos to you for making your health and wellness a priority! We are experts in behaviour change theory, so if you’re interested in taking your efforts to the next level - or perhaps if you’re stuck and need some inspiration - we can help with knowledge, tools and strategies to empower you to achieve the health and wellness you are looking for.
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Living with Chronic Illness

Caring for Yourself

As you likely have experienced by now, navigating the medical system can be challenging. Break through those barriers and get the care that's best for you with our communication tools.
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Moving a Loved One into Assisted Living

Life Transitions

Chances are that your loved one has experienced some health issues that are prompting this move to assisted living. As an important support person in their life, they may rely on you to be their advocate in the event of a hospital visit. Learn ways you can advocate for them most effectively with the medical team.
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Living with a Terminal Illness

End of Life Decisions

You may be thinking ahead as to how to prepare for this time of life. Understanding what your needs might be and building a support team are so important. Make plans to ensure you and your loved ones are better prepared for this important time of life.
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Planning for Aging Well

Planning for Your Future Self

You are looking to your future self and wondering what direction you are going. Will you be thriving or surviving? Take our quiz and find out how well you are likely to age given your current health habits.
Take the Quiz

Retired (or almost there!)

Your Best Years

You are in the prime of your life and want to focus on staying that way by living the best life you possibly can. Get a personalized assessment of what areas of your health and wellness you can improve upon, and gain access to personalized educational tools that will help you proactively change your habits so you can optimize your aging experience.
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Providing Care to a Loved One

Caring for Your Loved One

Caregiving is one of the most important roles you can take in life, and often one that lacks support. Be better supported in your role by having important conversations and accessing resources that will empower you in your caregiving journey. link to Empowering (page to be built)
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Living with Diabetes

Managing Your Illness

We hope you’re living well with your diabetes and that your health is stable. Issues with diabetes can sometimes require a trip to the hospital, which can be a stressful event. Be proactive with your health by planning ahead to ensure you receive the care you want if you were to be hospitalized in the future.
Learn more about Advance Serious Illness Planning

Getting My Affairs in Order

Planning Ahead

We applaud you on proactively planning ahead! We encourage you to add Advance Serious Illness Planning to your planning preparations so that you get the care you want in the event of a medical emergency. What is ASIP?
Learn More

Becoming a Grandparent

Being There for Your Family

Congratulations! They say that grandparenting is even better than parenthood. Chances are you will want to be around as long as you can to see your grandkids grow and thrive. Take our quiz and find out how well you are likely to age given your current health habits.
Take the Quiz

Supporting a Loved One Through a Medical Crisis

Giving Support

You’ve stepped up to help your loved one in their time of need. Learn more about how you can support your loved one through a hospital stay and be their voice to the medical team if you are called upon to advocate for them. Learn More
Learn More

Creating or Updating My Will

Making Preparations

Good for you for getting organized! We often think about wills and life insurance, which are both important. But have you thought about the time leading up to your eventual death and the legacy you will leave behind? Learn more about how to make a plan for this very important time of life. Learn More
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What our Planners are saying:

Karma’s Story

In my wildest dreams, I would never have envisioned using this information as soon as we did. A few months later…

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Dr. Heyland, I just wanted to thank you for involving us in your planning seminars.We did read through the information, filled it out, talked to our children about our decisions and ultimately knew what we wanted the end to look like. In my wildest dreams, I would never have envisioned using this information as soon as we did. A few months later, on September 4th, Gary fell, hit his head and ended up in a life threatening situation with a severe brain trauma. He was air lifted to the ICU at Foothills Hospital in Calgary where he spent the next couple of weeks.He passed away peacefully September 19th.He had an opportunity to communicate [not verbally but with his eyes & hand squeezing] with each of our children and with me, which the Doctors said was a miracle.Indeed it was a miracle and we were truly blessed to have those special moments with him. Although this was one of the hardest experiences of my life, it was made easier by our planning exercise with you. When the doctor’s approached me to make decisions on Gary’s behalf, I didn’t want the stress of taking that responsibility all by myself and was so grateful that I heard Gary’s voice and was able to communicate his wishes to the doctors. The planning helped me understand what he would have wanted. And because he had already discussed those wishes with our children, they also understood what was best to do. It was so helpful to have the family ‘all on the same page.’ I feel it is so important to talk about these things. You don’t want to feel guilty about what was done. You want to feel like you honored your loved ones’ last wishes. I strongly encourage others to engage in this planning exercise- don’t procrastinate this task because you never know when you will need it!

Mary Anne’s Story

My husband’s health was declining and we were uncertain how best to plan for the future. Our family doctor was not…

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My husband’s health was declining and we were uncertain how best to plan for the future. Our family doctor was not helpful but the home care nurse suggested we ask to get involved in the special clinic where your Plan Well materials were being presented. Initially, we found the experience very intimidating because we had no idea about the different types of medical care that we had to considered. But we found the materials very straightforward, very easy to understand, and very helpful. Although we found it uncomfortable to talk about death and dying, we knew we need to push through this and finalize our plan and discuss with our family and our doctor. Those conversations went really well, because we knew what we wanted to have happen. After all was said and done, we had a tremendous sense of ‘relief’ that we were better informed and better prepared for what might come in the future.

Sally’s Story

We were both quite impressed that there is something out there like this that provides us with all this information, that we are…

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My mother is 95 and had trouble navigating the website so I sat with her and went through all the material and watched all the videos. We were both quite impressed that there is something out there like this that provides us with all this information, that we are not left up to ourselves to figure this all out. We found the website very informative and helpful. The introductory video was particularly compelling. We had never thought of many of these important things before. Thank you for involving us in this program.

Erin’s Story

Working directly with seniors and caregivers in support services, I see the value in what the Plan Well Guide offers families. We never…

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Working directly with seniors and caregivers in support services, I see the value in what the Plan Well Guide offers families. We never know when a serious illness, accident or medical diagnosis may strike that requires important decision making. Planting the seed about having the tough discussion informs family members, friends and neighbours about taking control of their own values and wishes. It gives each of us a voice of how we want to be cared for if and when that time comes. Dr. Heyland’s presentation clearly establishes the need for creating one’s personalized advance plan.

Denise’s Story

A difficult period in our life which we all must face, and which many of us would simply prefer to ignore.My father died last August…

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Dr. Heyland, Thanks a million for responding. Your interview on CBC was very interesting and helpful. A difficult period in our life which we all must face, and which many of us would simply prefer to ignore. My father died last August and I am presently executor of his estate. I cringe simply thinking that our children will also eventually be responsible for us at some point. We are trying to make the process as clear and painless as possible. With all the effort you have put into Plan Well Guide, everyone will now be better able to reach such a goal. Thank you so very much! God bless you.

Critical Care Physician’s Perspective

I can't stress enough how important discussing your decisions with your family is. Every day, I saw families…

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The webinar was absolutely fantastic. If we know what the patient wants, we are so much more capable of taking care of them. I can't stress enough how important discussing your decisions with your family is. Every day, I saw families going directly against a patient’s wishes due to guilt and ignorance about what the patient wanted.

Start today for free.

You or your loved one can start a Plan with our free Guide: 

Guide to Exploring Your Authentic Values and Informed Preferences

The online guide will:

  • educate you about medical treatments
  • help you determine your values and preferences for medical treatment
  • help you communicate with decision makers and caregivers 
  • automatically generate a Dear Doctor Letter that you can save, edit and share
To live well, age well, and die well, you need to Plan Well ®