End of Life Doulas Specialize in Advance Care Planning

The Heart of Hospice Podcast

End of Life Doulas are experts in managing advance care planning conversations. EOL Doula Pam Carter of International Doula Life Movement knows how to get those discussions going. As an EOL Doula, Pam works with people with serious illness and their families to determine their end of life wishes. Choices are often made by weighing benefit vs burden. That means considering questions like “What will I get out of this? Is this what I want to do?”, “Is this something that contributes to my quality of life?”, or “If I spend my time like this, what will it take from me?”, and “What will I have to give up for this (energy, time with family, peace, comfort, respiratory comfort, even money)?”

Pam believes advance care planning should consider all aspects of how we live. Further treatment for an existing illness should definitely be included. Other things to talk about for your ACP is where you want to be cared for towards the end of your life, and who you’d like to take care of you.

Here are some other things that could be included in your Advance Care Plan:

• Having visits from a spiritual counselor (chaplain)
• Including visitors or having privacy
• Returning to the hospital for accidents or injuries
• Treatment for infections
• How much information you want about your health status
• Who will be your healthcare decision maker (Medical Power of Attorney/Healthcare Proxy)
• Funeral/memorial service planning
• Tradition funeral care, embalming, green burial, or human composting
• Using medications that will cause drowsiness or avoiding sedation
• Body/organ donation (whole body donation, forensic anthropology donation)
• Back-up plan if body donation is disqualified
• Rituals or ceremonies

That’s only the beginning of the many things that can be part of an advance care plan. Those ACP conversations should happen early and often. It’s hard to imagine all the “what ifs”, but it’s valuable to talk about different scenarios that seem possible for your life or situation.

Having an end of life or death doula to facilitate those ACP discussions can help!

Want to know more about doulas, or connect with others who are doing death doula work? Visit internationaldoulalifemovement.com.

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