Helping You Take Action To Prepare For End Of Life

One in 3 reading this blog title will delete and move on. While they see end of life planning as important, it's not for them. Be  the 1 to take action!

© Danielle Robertson Consulting Pty Ltd t/as DR Care Solutions

In an Australian-first survey^[1], Australian adults of all ages were asked to share their thoughts and experiences around planning for end-of-life.

Important but not for me

It found that while almost 9 out of 10 Australian adults believe in the importance of end-of-life planning, only one third has put that belief into action.

Why are we not taking action? According to the survey, around 50% of us simply don’t know where to start, how to go about finding information, and what our choices are.

Get started by using our tools

To help you, DR Care Solutions has developed two practical tools (free to download at the end of this blog):

1. The DR Care Solutions End-of-Life Planning Checklist

1. If you are living with a life-threatening condition, completing this checklist will help you prepare and bring some peace of mind no matter how old you are.

• If you are well and over 50 years of age, tick off the big five items: Enduring Power of Attorney, Enduring Guardian, Advanced Care Plan, Will, and Binding Death Nomination Form (related to your superannuation).^[2]
  
  

2. The DR Care Solutions Life Ready Register^TM

• Australians, of all ages, are encouraged to keep this register. It records your key personal, legal and financial documents in the one place and allows you, or those carrying out your wishes, to find the documents quickly and easily.

• Store it in locked fireproof filing cabinet or a safety deposit box, or if stored online, use password protection and file encryption.

• Review and update this register every year around your birthday. It’s a great date to remember to look at it. We also recommend that you undertake all medical appointments and blood tests around the same time so you have benchmarks showing any changes and have the ability to hop onto ‘fixing’ any changes to your health or well-being.

• Make sure your Power of Attorney and Executor know that it exists and how to access the latest version.

What is a good death?

The campaigners behind Dying to Know Day^[3] (8 August) give us the following definition^[4]:

A good death is to die in accordance with the values and choices which are consistent with what dying well means to you.

So over to you

To prepare for a good death, the ball is now in your court to complete the DR Care Solutions End-of Life Planning Checklist and DR Care Solutions Life Ready RegisterÔ, and share your wishes with your loved ones.

In my experience, being organised prevents loved ones from experiencing unnecessary distress and heightened grief – simply for lack of conversations and documentation. They are often left to decipher your wishes and often pay court costs to gain permission to exercise those wishes. Use Dying to Know Day as the mechanism to start organising yourself!

DR Care Solutions - Life Planning Resources

For your convenience, we offer the following free resources available by submitting the forms below:

• End-Of-Life Planning Checklist: Go through a list of tasks to prepare for an end of life.

• Life Ready Register™: Record all your important information in the one place.
  
  

Please note: The information in this blog is not to be treated as legal advice. Please speak with your solicitor for legal advice.

Need help caring for a loved one? Please feel free to call me, Danielle Robertson, at any time for an initial discussion on how to set up the right care, support and assistance at the right time and in the right place.

Resources

^[1] Dying To Know Day: Getting Dead Set Research
^[2] DR Care Solutions: Be Prepared for Your Dying Day - Tick Off The Five!
^[3] Dying To Know Day
^[1] Dying To Know Day: Getting Dead Set Research, page 8