Hospice of Michigan Provides Free Online Resources to Guide End-of-Life Planning and Decision Making

DETROIT, Jan. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hospice of Michigan offers a complete toolkit to empower individuals and families to take control of end-of-life decision making and planning. The free resource is the www.haveyouhadthetalk.org website from which a toolkit can be downloaded and printed for free.  

The non-profit organization is raising awareness of its Have You Had the Talk?™ campaign as the new health care legislation will no longer include references to end-of-life counseling as part of Medicare's new annual check up. The Obama administration decided to drop the references.

The website and toolkit were created to help with an area of life planning that is often overlooked.

Hospice of Michigan, which is celebrating 30 years of providing hospice care in the state of Michigan, has long been committed to educating the public and health care professionals about end-of-life- care and planning. The Have You Had the Talk™? website has information to empower individuals to speak for themselves about the care they want should they face a serious illness or unpredictable event that affects their health.

The Have You Had the Talk?™ website and toolkit:

• Explains "the talk"
• Provides a checklist of the steps to follow.
• Provides a guide to clarify wishes, organize paperwork and put wishes in writing
• Recommends "having the talk" with family members
• Suggests resources to get further information.
• It recommends keeping the completed documents in the same place at all times (so they can be easily retrieved).
• Keep a copy of the documents in the car glove compartment
• Give a copy to family members
• Six questions to get started thinking about fundamental aspects of planning for a health care emergency or the end of life: ∙What tasks do I want to complete before I die? ∙What does "quality of life" mean to me? ∙When faced with death, what does a "good death" mean to me? ∙What role do I want my loved ones to have should I be facing death?  ∙What kind of help and support do I want my loved ones to get if I should die? ∙Who is the person I want to advocate for me in an emergency?

Dottie Deremo, president and CEO of Hospice of Michigan, said, "We plan for most things in our life – our education, our careers, our vacations, our retirement. At Hospice of Michigan, we want people to plan for the care they want at the end of their lives. We want people to choose someone to be their advocate in the event they cannot speak for themselves. It is sensible to plan for this important chapter of our lives, and we created Have You Had the Talk? to help with this process, which is still new to most people."

Go to: www.haveyouhadthetalk.org

About Hospice of Michigan:

Hospice of Michigan, founded in 1980, is Michigan's first and largest hospice. It serves nearly 900 patients each day in 56 counties in the Lower Peninsula. The non-profit hospice provider is a national advocate for improving end-of-life care for all Americans, and its mission is to serve all who need and seek care regardless of ability to pay. The organization raises nearly $4 million annually to cover the cost of caring for the uninsured and underinsured. The organization can be reached for information 24-hours-per-day, seven-days-per-week at 888-247-5701 or visit the website at www.hom.org.

SOURCE Hospice of Michigan