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Section 1 - Assistive Technology
Section 2 - Divorce Issues
Section 3 - Drugs/Medications
Section 4 - Checklist, Documents, Forms
Section 5 - Employment Issues
Section 6 - Estate Planning
Advanced Directives & DNR's
Section 7 - Caregiver Resources
Patient Quality of Life: Should Doctors Guess It?
Incontinence Care
Section 8 - Children Seriously Ill
Children of The Chronically Ill
Siblings of Children with Special Health Needs
Guides To Disability Issues
End Stage Hospital & Home Care
Child With A Serious Illness
Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP)
Camps-Special Needs Children
Children's Wish Foundations
Section 9 - For Kids
Section 10 - Family Resources
Section 11 - Patient Resources
Section 12 - Financial Aids
Section 13 - Insurance
Long Term Care Insurance
Section 14 - Legal
Section 15 - Long Term Care
Section 16 - Symptom Support
Section 17 - End of Life
Section 18 - Funeral Planning
Section 19 - After Death Occurs
Guestbook
Hospice FAQS
Symptom Support
Behavoir Strategies
Ill Person's Feelings
Caregiving & Family Harmony
Caregiver Grief ~Article
End of Life
Comforting A Dying Person
End Stages of Life
When Someone Dies
Funeral Planning
Bereavement Fares and Discounts
Common Bonds of Caregiving
Tips For Helping Your Friend
About me
Free Greeting Cards
Estate Planning Definition
Living & Other Trusts
Wills & Beneficiaries
State Laws On Wills
Conservator~Guardianship Definitions
Conservator~Guardianship
Insurance Issues
Avoiding Probate
Prescription Drug Program I
Prescription Drug Cards II
Disability & SSDI Insurance Questions
Long Term Care Insurance
Employment Issues
Divorce Issues
State Laws-Statutes
Legal
Documents
Making A Personal File
Emergency Info Form
Emergency Planning
Health Care Surrogate
Forms, Checklist
Family Resources
Patient Resources
Rehab Tools-Assistive Tech. Categories
State Map-Ombudsman Program
NH Your Rights-Fact Sheets
Nursing Homes and Your Rights - Factsheets for some seriously ill or their caregivers.
Long Term Care-Facts & Rights
State & Federal Resources
Drug Resources
Grief & Sorrow
When death nears - Signs and Symptoms
Some Facts About Artificial Nutrition and Hydration
Things To Consider-Artificial Nutrition and Hydration
Family Resources
From "On Our Own Terms" Moyers on Dying:  Being patient and sympathetic; Be aware of economic conerns; religion matters; life long conflicts' care in discussing limiting certain treatments; language matters; listen to the illness; don't lump everyone together; don't go on appearances;  be more self-aware

Activities for Dying And Their Loved Ones - How can family and friends mark the final months, weeks and days, and extract the most they can from the time that remains with their dying loved one? Some people will just want to spend time together talking, or simply being with the dying person. But some might find it helpful and rewarding to work on some of the following activities
 
Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) NON-Hospital (PDR Format) - Why states are creating these forms/the new DNR laws pros and cons.  A non hospital DNR order is an physician's order that specifically refuses emergency CPR.  This order would be recognized by EMT's outside of a hosptial or in a long term care setting.  It is meant only for those people whose illness or frality gives them little chance of surviving and recovering from CPR

Dying At Home-What's Involved (a booklet) -Health Care Agents: Appointing One and Being One; You & Your Choices, Advance Medical Directives; Advance Directives and End-of-Life Decisions  Artificial Nutrition and Hydration and End-of-Life Decisions; Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders, and End-of-Life Decisions.
 
Dying at Home-End of Life Tools
Patient Tools: Guide To First Steps; What Treatment Is Best for You? Taking A Spiritual Inventory; Self-Assessment of Your Beliefs About Death and Dying.  Community Tools:  How To Share The Care; How To Be With A Dying Person; A Doctor's Guide To Diversity

Genetic counseling in primary care Q&A's - Physicians Guide: To learn the role of genetic evaluations in patients with unexplained birth defects, developmental delays, mental retardation, or dysmorphic features; identify the issues that are important to address when ascertaining family medical histories and discussing concerns about them; understand the importance of open communication among the primary care physician, patient, and genetic professional
 
Coping with a serious illness, our own or a loved one's, causes a lot of anxiety and confusion. This can be made worse by our health care system which is really not a system, but a mix of disconnected, and sometimes dysfunctional, groups, plans, services, and professionals. How to find help and advice; What to do when things don't go well; A guide to settings and services; How do I pay for these services?
 
Creating and End-of-life care plan/when to create from Partnership in Dying

Growth House, Inc. a plethora of resources   on end of life care
International gateway to resources for life-threatening illness and end of life care. Our primary mission is to improve the quality of compassionate care for people who are dying through public education and global professional collaboration.
 
Ideas for a Time When Someone You Love Is Dying - Someone you love is dying and it feels as if a part of you is dying too. It's not easy to think about what all this means. What will life be like without them? What will happen to you in the future? What will become of your relation-ship? Those are only some of your questions. You're probably also wondering about this period just ahead of you. What will you say to that person? What will you talk about? What should you not talk about? How should you act? What can you do that will best help them? And how can you best help yourself? The dying person will be as they've always been, only more so. The one who's dying needs you to reach out.
It's Time To Talk-The Most Important Conversations (In PDF)
These Are Often The Most Difficult To Have. Article in PDF format from Finding Our Way'
 
Living With Serious Illness- Handbook for Mortals - Living with a serious illness can open up an unexpected variety of new possibilities. Things to do when time may be short; Am I "living with" or "dying of"? How we die -- then and now; Planning for uncertainty; Talking with a sick person; Not particularly interested in dying and Decisions to make, decisions to wait

Living with Dying-Reactions of a Dying Person  -People are individuals, and how they respond to a terminal illness depends on a number of factors, such as their age, sex, personality, ethnic background, previous grief experiences and religious philosophy. The specific illness, relationship with family and the need or ability to provide for them after death will also affect how one feels about dying. There is no single pattern of emotions that a dying person will follow.  However, there are common reactions to a terminal illness. Persons who are dying will usually experience some of them.  Reactions of the Family; Telling The Children; Coping; Alernatives to Hospitals

Organ Donor-Arranging Donations from Nolo Law - The principal method for donating organs is by indicating your intent to do so on a donor card. Once signed, this card identifies you to medical personnel as a potential organ donor. Even if you have not signed a card or other document indicating your intent to donate your organs, your next of kin can approve a donation at your death. And conversely, even if you have indicated an intent to donate your organs, an objection by your next of kin will often defeat your intention; medical personnel will usually not proceed in the face of an objection from relatives.
 
No one should have to suffer through an illness or die alone or in pain. Palliative, or "comfort," care recognizes that death is a normal part of life and tries to prepare patients and families to meet it so that we can all die on our own terms.  Curative or life-prolonging treatments;  relief of physical suffering; attention to emotional needs; communication, etc.
 
To illuminate problems in making decisions about the care of the elderly the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) devised a classification system consisting of four categories of "physical status" and four categories of "decisionmaking capacity." Most of these categories are not articulated in practice, but they influence a person's ability to make treatment decisions for himself or herself and may also influence the decisions made by others on a person's behalf.
 
Planning Ahead: A Survival Strategy - An article: The death of a spouse is one of the most traumatic events most people ever have to face. The necessary and inevitable grieving period immediately following such a loss is not the time to deal with difficult and often irreversible financial decisions. However, unless those considerations have been mapped ahead of time, the surviving spouse not only has to scramble to make funeral arrangements, but also must try and make sense out of insurance policies, pension and social security benefits, mortgages, taxes, investments and many other financial issues.

Talking About End-of-Life Issues
1. Advance care planning
2. Talking about the issues
3. Talking with family and friends
4. Talking with your doctor
5. Preparing the right advance directive
6. Talking with your health care agent
7. Acting as a health care agent
8. Understanding life-support measures
9. Learning about pain management

Ultimate Emotional Challenge
An article discussing Facing the Fact | Getting to Acceptance | What Are You Afraid Of? | How to Be With a Dying Person
Note:  Most of the books referenced above can be purchased through Amazon.  Please consider placing your order through the Hunt-Dis Convention Scholarship Fund Amazon Associate program Amazon Connection!  Thank you!

Email Webmaster~Jean E. Miller