Ending Life Well: Conversations & Connections
By McKenna Reinhard , PCOA End of Life Specialist Take Five: An Overview of Five Wishes
The wishes that the booklet covers are: • Wish 1: The Person I Want to Make Health Care Decisions (Healthcare Power of Attorney) • Wish 2: My Wish for the Kind of Medical Treatment (Living Will) • Wish 3: How Comfortable I Want to Be • Wish 4: How I Want People to Treat Me • Wish 5: What I Want My Loved Ones to Know It is important to note that this booklet does not include the Mental Healthcare Power of Attorney or the Pre-Hospital Directive. This is because these are Arizona specific documents that could not be accounted for when trying to make a booklet that would be legal in a majority of states. If you want to use the Five Wishes booklet but also want one or both of these documents (and we on the PCOA End of Life Team do recommend that everyone complete the Mental Healthcare Power of Attorney), you will need to add these to the Five Wishes booklet. This is a potential downside to using this document, but there are positives that are unique to this template. The main positive is that this is a document that is legal in many states (46, to be exact). This means if you live part of the year in Arizona and part of the states where this document is also legal, you can complete one packet and it
When trying to complete your Advance Directive, it can be daunting to figure out which template option is going to best fit your needs. Over the next three months, the End of Life Team will spotlight the three Advance Directive templates that PCOA offers at no cost so that you can have some clarity on which one will be the best option for you. This month we are looking at Five Wishes.
will be valid in both states. Another reason that people enjoy this template is because it does not feel as cold or clinical as the other options because of the language that is used and because it asks questions that go beyond your medical care and look at your spiritual and emotional care as well. This month, the LGBTQI+ Initiatives section of Never Too Late has chosen to spotlight The Sixth Wish, which some people may choose to add to the Five Wishes packet. If you would like to learn more about this, you can read that article on page 28. In October, we will discuss Thoughtful Life Conversations and in December, we will look at the Attorney General’s Life Care Planning packet. If you are ready to get started on the end of life care planning process but want more information on the other template options, you can attend “Let’s Talk About Living… and Dying” on Monday, September 12th or “Preparativos Hechos en Vida” on Friday, September 23rd. For one-on-one support you can call our Helpline at (520) 790-7262 to get connected with one of our End of Life Specialists.
Five Wishes is an Advance Directive booklet which is legal in 46 states (in the other 4 states- New Hampshire, Kansas, Ohio, Texas- you would need to complete additional paperwork along with the Five Wishes packet). This packet is written in a conversational, approachable way with the goal of making the end of life care planning process more welcoming.
September 2022, Never Too Late | Page 23
Pima Council on Aging
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator