Hospices around the country are running a national campaign
to support New Zealanders to talk about death more. “We need to talk about
dying” is aimed at helping communities to reclaim their familiarity with dying
in the hope they may worry about it less.

Death seems to have become a difficult topic for a lot of
people. Many of us have lost the knowledge about what happens, what to say to
each other, and the options we have for care.

Death is a process. We tend to know what is going to happen,
and our team can support people through it. We hope that if we could talk about
it more and get more familiar with what happens, that we might all worry a bit
less.

It’s interesting that when we become pregnant we tend to
have a birth plan – yet we don’t have anywhere near the same focus for our
death – or an exit plan. It’s time we addressed this.

Advanced care planning is one such plan – It is the process
of exploring what matters to you when thinking about end of life care and sharing
that information with your loved ones and health care team so treatment and
care plans can support your wishes.

For a link to an Advanced Care plan - please click link below

https://www.hqsc.govt.nz/asset...