Finish Strong: Putting Your Priorities First at Life’s End by Compassion & Choices President Emerita/Senior Adviser Barbara Coombs Lee is written with candor and clarity by a former nurse, physician assistant and attorney who became a leading advocate for end-of-life options. This book’s stories, facts and dialogue will help you prepare for latter days that retain the purpose, grace and dignity you’ve always valued. Learn more.

Inspired by Barbara’s book, we developed our Tools to Finish Strong. Below, you will find tools and resources to help you and your loved ones Finish Strong by planning for an end-of-life experience that matches the life we’ve enjoyed—defined by love, purpose and agency. “Tools to Finish Strong” specifically addresses planning your end-of-life care at every stage, even after a dementia diagnosis with our Dementia Values and Priorities Tool and Dementia Decoder.

Stay in control of your life and care during a dementia diagnosis : Dementia Values Tools Button
We’ve designed two interactive, web-based tools that will help people take control of their care following diagnosis: the Dementia Decoder and the Dementia Values & Priorities Tool. Get started today.

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Dementia

Dementia is a devastating, incurable disease currently affecting almost 6 million people living in America. One in three older adult Americans will die with dementia, and by 2060 the number of people affected by dementia is expected to soar to 15 million people. 

While it’s not possible to accurately predict whether or not you or a loved one will be diagnosed with dementia, with proper planning and a strong healthcare advocate, it is possible to avoid needless suffering at the end of life. Compassion & Choices has sought to help aid in this process with our new tools:

  • Dementia Values and Priorities Tool: Patients will be able to provide a set of clear-cut care instructions to their loved ones, outlining their intentions through a personalized care plan called a Dementia Healthcare Directive, which adds to a standard advance directive, and gives loved ones a way to implement critical, informed decisions on the patient’s behalf free of guilt.
  • Dementia Decoder: Patients indicate the current status of their dementia diagnosis, specify what they hope to learn and accomplish from an upcoming clinical appointment and customize that experience using a list of helpful questions. Responses to these questions can then be printed or emailed to a provider or family member to guide important discussions during high-stakes medical appointments.

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These resources are a small sample of what’s available to you. For a comprehensive list, please visit the Plan Your Care Resource Center for more information.

 

Visit the Plan Your Care Resource Center