Five Wishes

• Three Ways to Get them:
  1. Easiest: Paper version to PRINT out can be found here. 
  2. Order a booklet on the Five Wishes Site and have it mailed to you here.
  3. Fill it out online: Either on a booklet or in their system. Instructions to access the online version through fivewishes.org
• Sample Letters
  • Letter to Health Care Agent
  • Letter to my Doctor or Health Care Provider

Addendum to Five Wishes

• Lee’s Personal Addendum in Google Doc
• Lee’s Personal Addendum in Word Doc

End of Life To-Do Checklist

• Google Doc
• Word Doc
• PDF Doc

Go Wish Cards

• Online Exercise
• Buy the Cards

Health Care (Medical) Power of Attorney – A Legal Addition to Five Wishes

• NC Medical/Health Care Power of Attorney

Support for End of Life

• Patient Advocate Karen Sanders: rnpatientadvocacync.com
• Death Doulas:
  • International Directory
  • US Death Doula Directory
  • Death Doula Directory for Asheville
• Conscious/Alternative Funeral Directors
  • Asheville: Meredith Springs (Ask me for her info)
• Education at OLLI (Asheville). These folks often have estate planning, advanced directives, and other end of life topics. 

Specific Medical Orders

• MOST Document or here.
• DNR – Do Not Resuscitate
• To order both these forms, here.

Medical Release & HIPAA

• Simple Medical Release Form
• HIPAA Info:
  • HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and it requires that healthcare facilities (hospitals, clinics, and private practices…) who have access to Protected Health Information (PHI) take actions to ensure the protection of patient data.
  • Your rights under HIPAA
  • HIPAA Release Form
  • Medical Release Form by State

Death Certificate

• Federal – CDC Provided
• NC Vital Records

Dementia Directive

• Dementia Directive Site for Downloading Directive.

Wrap Up Links

• Evaluation

Disposition of Body

Declaration Regarding Disposition of Physical Body

• • Google Doc
  • Word Doc
  • PDF Doc

Authorization for Cremation

• Word Doc

Aquamation (Eco Friendship Alternative to Cremation)

• Human Aquamation

Egg Capsule 

• Capsula Mundi

Green Burial in WNC

• In WNC: Carolina Memorial Sanctuary 
• Other Places: Conservation Burial Alliance or Search Conservation Burial or Green Burial

Composting of Bodies

• Urban Death Project at Western Carolina University. Video. NY Times Article. TED Talk.
• Recompose website. One Zero article. Legal in Washington State. $5,500.
• Infinity Burial Suit.

Donation of Body:

• Excellent Resource from WikiHow re: Donating Body.
• Body Farms for research of decay and decomposition.
  • 1.1University of Tennessee
  • 1.2Western Carolina University
  • 1.3Texas State University
  • 1.4Sam Houston State University
  • 1.5Southern Illinois University
  • 1.6Colorado Mesa University
  • 1.7University of South Florida
• Donation of Body to Science
  • List of Places that Accept Bodies
  • National Willed Body Programs
  • Policies Regarding Body Donation by the American Association of Anatomy

Home Death Care

• The Art of Natural Death Care by the Sophia Center in Greensboro, NC. Gorgeous overview video.
• Crossings Care: Caring for our own at Death.

Home Funerals & Home Burials

• General Info:
  • Home Funeral Alliance
  • Buried at Home in All 50 States
  • How to have a Home Burial
  • Grave Matters
  •  Green Burial Council
• Resources for:
  • Techni Ice
  • Meredith Springs <mlpsprings9@outlook.com>

Financial Resources

• NC Durable Power of Attorney
• Free Resource for Estate Planning (I have not used this but someone sent it and it looks worthwhile. Let me know if you’ve had an experience with it – either positive or negative.)
• NC Lawyer who is willing to work by the hour: www.dykeslawfirm.com. 

General Resources

• Kimchi Rylander’s Death Journey
  • Positive Deathing by Kimchi Facebook Group
  • Flickr Photo Album
• Regional (Western NC) Resources:
  • Asheville Alternative Death Care Facebook Group
  • Center for End of Life Transitions, Asheville, NC for workshops and home funeral guidance.
  • Cooperate WNC
  • Death Seeding Life
• Books:
  • Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Book by Atul Gawande
  • Words at the Threshold book by Lisa Smartt and Dr. Raymond Moody’s Life After Life website. 
  • The Art of Dying Well by Katy Butler
  • Our Last Best Act by Mallory McDuff
• Videos/Talks:
  • The Bitter End: On Medical Doctors & their End of Life Choices by Radio Lab.
  • David Kessler interview by Brene Brown on Grief & Finding Meaning.
  • Four Things that Matter Most with Dr. Ira Byock Author of Dying Well (Forgive me, I forgive you, thank you, I love you).
  • Stephen Jenkinson
    • Die Wise Book
    • Griefwalker Movie
    • Orphan Wisdom Website
  • Martin Prechtel on Grief and Praise, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
  • GriefCast Podcast from the UK
  • Caitlin Doughty – Ask A Mortician
• Websites:
  • Let’s Reimagine Free Education about Death
  • Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking
  • Share the Care
  • Holding Space in Asheville
• Articles:
  • What we really think about on our deathbeds by Lee Warren
  • Whoever Dies with the Least Stuff Wins by Lee Warren
  • Lee Warren’s Article on Community Grief
  • Sitting Up With the Dead: Lost Appalachian Burial Customs
  • The Movement to Bring Death Closer – NY Times
  • Divesting Our End of Life from Fossil Fuels – Earth Island Journal
  • Brain Pickings Review of A Year with Rilke by Joanna Macy
  • Brain Pickings Review of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations on Mortality
• Education:
  • https://finalpassages.org/

Resources for Final Exit Choices

• Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking
  • From Compassion & Choices
  • From Nursing World
  • Palliative Podcast from Stanford
• Compassion & Choices (formerly Hemlock Society)
  • News Article on Helium Kits
  • Book, The Final Exit
  • Patients Rights Council
  • Assisted Dying Blog of Derek Humphry
• Dignified Death Option