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End of Life Information

The information on this Web site is presented for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for informed medical advice or training. Do not use this information to diagnose or treat a mental health problem without consulting a qualified health or mental health care provider.

This Web site provides links to other sites not owned or controlled by OLESEM that we think might be useful or of interest to you. The Web has an abundance of sites with information on wellness and mental health issues. Some sites are informative and based on good authority, others are merely entertaining. While we have been careful to research each site in hopes of providing you credible and accurate information, OLESEM does not endorse or guarantee references or a site listed and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices used by other site owners.

However, none of these sites is a satisfactory substitute for professional help. When people face serious personal problems that defy easy solutions, it usually is time to seek the services of qualified professionals. With that limitation in mind, the following Web sites may be of interest:

• Connecticut Hospice
  The Connecticut Hospice inaugurated hospice care in America in 1974. Since then, it has been the beacon and teacher of the growing hospice movement throughout the nation, and beyond. Connecticut Hospice addresses physical, spiritual, social, and emotional needs of patients with advanced irreversible illness, and their families. Such care is provided regardless of diagnosis and as long as the Hospice level of care is needed by the patients.
• Find a Hospice Program
  A national database of hospices.

• Five Wishes Document
  An Aging with Dignity resource. The Five Wishes document helps you express how you want to be treated if you are seriously ill and unable to speak for yourself. It is unique among all other living will and health agent forms because it looks to all of a person's needs: medical, personal, emotional and spiritual. Five Wishes also encourages discussing your wishes with your family and physician. Five Wishes lets your family and doctors know:
  
  

  1. Which person you want to make health care decisions for you when you can't make them.
  2. The kind of medical treatment you want or don't want.
  3. How comfortable you want to be.
  4. How you want people to treat you.
  5. What you want your loved ones to know.

  The document is valid in all but 15 states (click to review) . The 15 that Five Wishes is not legally valid in, either require a specific state form or that the person completing an advance directive be read a mandatory notice or "warning." Residents of these states can still use Five Wishes to put their wishes in writing and communicate their wishes with their family and physician. Most health care professionals understand they have a duty to listen to the wishes of their patients no matter how they are expressed.
  
  

• Funerals: A Consumer Guide (FTC)
  This Federal Trade Commission site provides consumer information on funerals. When a loved one dies, grieving family members and friends often are confronted with dozens of decisions about the funeral - all of which must be made quickly and often under great emotional duress. What kind of funeral should it be? What funeral provider should you use? Should you bury or cremate the body, or donate it to science? What are you legally required to buy? What other arrangements should you plan? And, as callous as it may sound, how much is it all going to cost? Each year, Americans grapple with these and many other questions as they spend billions of dollars arranging more than 2 million funerals for family members and friends. The increasing trend toward pre-need planning - when people make funeral arrangements in advance - suggests that many consumers want to compare prices and services so that ultimately, the funeral reflects a wise and well-informed purchasing decision, as well as a meaningful one. If you need information on this topic, this FTC site may be of assistance.
• Funerals: A Consumer Guide (GSA)
  When a loved one dies, grieving family members and friends often are confronted with dozens of decisions about the funeral - all of which must be made quickly and often under great emotional duress. What kind of funeral should it be? What funeral provider should you use? Should you bury or cremate the body, or donate it to science? What are you legally required to buy? What other arrangements should you plan? And, as callous as it may sound, how much is it all going to cost? Check this site for additional information and direction.
• http://www.doi.gov/cgi-bin/intercept? Funerals.org
  This is a national funeral consumer organization with state chapters. Contact your local state chapter for advice and directions related to funeral arrangements and your rights by clicking on Directory of Nonprofit Funeral Consumer Groups when visiting their home page.
• Growth House
  This award-winning web site is your international gateway to resources for life-threatening illness and end of life care. Our primary mission is to improve the quality of compassionate care for people who are dying through public education and global professional collaboration.
• Hospices of the National Capital Region
  Falls Church, Va. 22042 - Offers support groups, workshops, seminars, educational sessions and other special events provided by grief counselors for the Washington, D.C. area. Call 800-255-0342 to find services near you.
• Hospice Patients Alliance
  HPA promotes quality hospice services whether a patient is enrolled in a licensed hospice or not, whether residing at home or in a facility. HPA protects the rights of patients, their families and caregivers, the bereaved and staff by providing information about the standards of care governing the health care provided, the services required to be provided by law, standard industry practices and how to obtain the very best hospice care available.
• LastActs.org
  Last Acts is a call-to-action campaign to improve care at the end of life. Our goals are to bring death related issues out in the open and help individuals and organizations pursue better ways to care for the dying. We believe in palliative care, which focuses on ways to ease pain and make life better for people who are dying and their loved ones. Palliative care means taking care of the whole person--body, mind, spirit--heart and soul. It looks at death and dying as something natural and personal. The goal of palliative care is to provide the best quality of life till the very end of life.
• National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
  Mission & Vision, To create an America where every individual can value the experience of the end of life. Mission to advance the art and science of end-of-life care.
• On Our Own Terms
  Across the country, local coalitions are forming to improve end-of-care in their communities in conjunction with the PBS series ON OUR OWN TERMS: Moyers on Dying. Filled with honesty, courage and humor, the series breaks through the culture of denial to wrestle with how we can die better in America