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End of life
January 6, 2009
At start of year, resolve to consider 'the end'
I hate New Year’s resolutions, but as much as I write about death — and having aging loved ones, to boot — I’m ashamed to admit: I’m not as well-versed as I should be on living wills, power of attorney and other end-of-life issues.
Each new year I print out information about the state’s Advance Directives and other forms and resolve to fill them out. So far, I haven’t. (By the way, a lot of good information, along with the forms, is available from non-profit Texas Partnership for End-of-Life Care. Executive Director Anne Moore is happy to answer questions from people needing help: 453-9600, in Austin).
Is there hope for an inveterate procrastinator like me? Hospice Austin says yes. The organization just launched “On Our Own Terms,” a program aimed at preparing people for end of life. David Zuniga, the program’s outreach coordinator, will help educate people about issues surrounding care for the dying in Hospice Austin’s five counties: Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell.
He started his new job this week.
One of his first initiatives will be teaching the free 12-hour program spread over two evenings and a Saturday in February.
“When you learn to face these things and bring them out of the scary taboo corners of our society, it can be transformative,” said Zuniga, at right. “End-of-life issues can be joyful. They can be sad, but they can be equally or more joyful.”
The program, made possible by a grant from the Shivers Foundation, Zuniga said, will cover an array of topics to bring people from “0 to 60” on end-of-life issues. The course will everything from filling out forms people need to make their final wishes known (to loved ones and doctors), to understanding life support in hospitals to talking to kids about end-of-life care, he said.
There’s one requirement to attending the sessions (being held at Hospice Austin, 4107 Spicewood Springs Road, Feb. 3 and Feb. 5, 6 to 9 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 7, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.): People must share their new-found knowledge with some sort of group: a neighborhood association, their church, or even a club they belong to.
OK, so I belong to a book club, does that count? Absolutely, Zuniga said, adding that participants could be members of a chess club, running club or even form a group of friends. Any kind of informal group is fine, he said. Do I have to train my book club in how to fill out forms and quiz them about feeding tubes and ventilators?
Um, no, he said. “You wouldn’t necessarily train them,” he said. “We’re just trying to get people to talk about end-of-life care.” Hospice Austin wants people to have those discussions two to four times within six months of the training.
If my book club won’t send me to a premature demise, sign me up, David.
Interested? E-mail Zuniga at dzuniga@hospiceaustin.org or call him at 342-4700, ext. 518.
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