If there was something you could do to improve end-of-life-care in the United States, and it only took two minutes, and everybody did it, would there be a transformation?
Alexandra Drane, president of Eliza Corp., and Matthew Holt think so. That’s why
they’ve created "Engage With Grace" the one-slide project. 
They believe that if everyone took two minutes at the end of every presentation to show this slide that asks five basic — but critical — questions transformation could occur. In times of tragedy, families would experience less anxiety, knowing their loved one’s wishes are being met.
Matthew and Alexandra ask that you download the slide, start a viral movement, have these conversations and transform end-of-life care. To learn more visit Engage with Grace, where you can download the one slde, register for free, learn how to start the conversation and store your answers to the questions.
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I would recommend PJ Hamel’s post as well. Here’s the link again, since the tinyurl version didn’t go through:
http://www.healthcentral.com/breast-cancer/c/78/48245/purposeful-life
The California HealthCare Foundation’s Chronic Disease Care conference had an excellent panel discussion, “Addressing End of Life Care: Having Meaningful Conversations Across Cultures.” (See: http://www.calchroniccare.org/)
I went to it because “Engage With Grace” had re-ignited an interest in this issue (first brought home by personal experiences with death). Gary Lee, Susan Stone, and Brad Stuart each shared practical tips and personal stories, but it was Dr. Stuart who stunned me with this insight: “At a certain point [in my career as a doctor] I decided it was boring to save lives. What’s really difficult is to talk to someone from the core of my soul, to the core of their soul, about what they face.”
I wrote a post titled “Engage With Grace Provides Valuable Tool for End-of-Life Discussion” on http://www.ouralzheimers.com and fully intend to use Engage with Grace when I speak on hospice and other topics at conferences in the upcoming year. Thank you for providing this great tool to help get the conversations flowing. http://www.healthcentral.com/alzheimers/c/62/48448/endlife-discussion
Engage with Grace is a project that’s going where others fear to tread. None of us enjoys talking or even thinking about death: that of our family or friends, even our own. Thus we shelve thoughts about an inevitable part of our lives, preferring to live in the present rather than face what scares us. Yet, by taking the few simple steps Engage with Grace outlines, we could confront our fears, defuse them with an action plan, and go forward with confidence. With grace. I’ve already answered the Five Questions, and have written about my father’s death, and my introduction to Engage with Grace, on a post at the HealthCentral Network: http://tinyurl.com/58pkru
PJ
I agree that the Engage with Grace project is important and long overdue. I have encountered so many people that are caught off guard when their family members near the last stages of life and their minds are too full of grief to think about the technicalities that come along with dying. By addressing these 5 questions in advance all that confusion could be avoided. Here are two inspiring stories about the value of this tool and ways to utilize it:
http://tinyurl.com/5skrjg
http://tinyurl.com/58pkru
Hi Sarah, have you seen any good videos of people using the Engage with Grace slide to prompt conversations? I’d love to see how those discussions go.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Best,
Sarah P.
I think this is a great idea. As a society, we tend to shy away from these discussions, because they make us uncomfortable. But the truth is that we need to be having the conversations. We need to know what our loved ones want at the end of their lives, and we need to be prepared to make the decision for them if they can’t make it themselves. You never know what tomorrow could bring, and it takes only a second for something terrible to happen. I strongly encourage everyone to start having these discussions. The 5-question slide is a great starting point.