Ep. 386 Five Wishes: Advance Care Planning for Everyone with Joanne Eason

Learn more about the Five Wishes document and why it can be a good choice as an advance directive.

My guest Joanne Eason is the president of Five Wishes, the nation’s only national advance care planning program. She discusses the history of the Five Wishes organization and the benefits of using the Five Wishes form as an advance directive. We review the reasons why everyone over age 18 needs and advance directive and how Five Wishes can meet that need. Learn more at the website:

www.fivewishes.org

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

• The original inspiration behind Five Wishes
• What the Five Wishes document consists of
• Which 46 states recognize Five Wishes as a legal document and the extra steps needed in the other 4 states
• Why choose Five Wishes over state advance directive forms or how to use both forms together
• The benefits of planning ahead for the end of life
• The importance of choosing the best person as a healthcare proxy
• Why Five Wishes asks individuals to define “what life support treatment means to me”
• The importance of including questions about more than just wishes for medical treatment in advance care planning
• What steps to take after completing Five Wishes
• How the Five Wishes form acknowledges the “gray areas” of end-of-life planning

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Register here for (free) online event with William Peters and The Shift Network: Discover the Shared Death Experience
• Get the Five Wishes Advocate’s Toolkit
• Driving Miss Norma
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