Community involvement is the motivation for change. You can help make the end of life a time of comfort, confidence, serenity and reflection. To start, try these ideas from Americans for Better Care of the Dying:
- Write your U.S. representatives and senators. Urge them to have Medicare, the Veterans Health Administration and other government health organizations and agencies sponsor programs on end-of-life care.
- Mobilize local churches or civic and volunteer groups that together, you can support those who are dying and their families through visits, transportation, meals, and prayer.
- Talk to your doctors about advance care planning and pain control.
- Push your local healthcare system – even if it’s only one doctor’s office – to get involved in quality improvement efforts.
- Write or call your favorite television or radio show. Ask them to include stories about people who are facing serious illness and death, and how they and their loved ones manage. Suggest end-of-life care as a discussion topic for call-in programs.
- Keep pace with what’s going on in the field. Look at CECC’s member projects pages, visit our links to partner sites, and just talk to local providers and people in the community.
- Read Handbook For Mortals: Guidance For People Facing Serious Illness, by Joanne Lynn, M.D., and Joan Harrold, M.D. (available at www.abcd-caring.org and www.amazon.com)
- Don’t accept inept care for yourself or your loved ones. Raise your voice. Insist on reliability. And when you find good care, publicize it! See our making promises page for more about this.
- Call your local paper’s obituary writer. Ask him or her to say something about how a person lived during the last years or months. What did the family do?
- Join Americans for Better Care of the Dying, the only group dedicated to changing public policy. For a nominal membership fee, you’ll receive special mailings and the group’s bimonthly newsletter, Exchange. Visit them online at www.abcd-caring.org.
- GET INVOLVED IN CECC. The Chicago End-of-Life Care Coalition (CECC) is a group of more than 100 hospices, hospitals, physicians, nurses, clergy, social workers, patient advocates, and community members. Together, we can empower Chicago’s diverse community to request and receive quality, comprehensive care near the end of life.
