Caregiver's Respite

Starting hard conversations with your family about important health care decisions is in no way easy. That’s why we chose to do this session – to help encourage family caregivers to start those difficult conversations with their family’s.

The workshop was lead by Mrs. Wy Woods Harris who started the session off with the Hello Game – Hello is a conversation game. It’s the easy, non-threatening way to start a conversation with your family and friends about what matters most to you.

Next we learned about the Five Wishes. Five Wishes is the first living will that talks about your personal, emotional, and spiritual needs as well as your medical wishes*. Through Aging with Dignity’s workbook, we were able to make sense of our own care and comfort choices before it’s too late. According to Aging with Dignity, research shows that when critical decisions arise, 50% of Americans are unable to make their own health care choices. Families are then called upon to make decisions for which they are not prepared – leaving them to guess at their loved ones wishes and sometimes causing guilt down the road*.

That is a burden we want to help all caregivers avoid. This year’s Hard Conversations workshop was a success for the 27 local caregivers who attended. Each of them is now equipped to have those really hard talks with their families (and themselves!).