Vision, Mission, Purpose (2)
A better way.
The Alliance is arising from people who have experienced the trauma of the dying process of loved ones here in NH and elsewhere, and have embarked on their own search for “a better way.”
We’re dedicated to helping all NH residents get the information they need to make decisions, sort through the options, and communicate with family and other loved ones around their end of life wishes. We believe that addressing end of life is part of living life fully – whatever that means to us at any point on our journey on earth.
Addressing our hopes, concerns, desires, and needs for completion can help us live more fully now, enjoying what we have and lessening our fears of the unknown or unresolved.
Why Now?
A host of demographic and cultural trends make this work crucial:
New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine have the fastest aging populations in the U.S.
A shortage of caregivers means that families have to rely more on their own resources, friends, neighbors, and communities.
People are living longer (in just one century, life expectancy has risen from 47 to 78); on a percentage basis, people over 90 are the fastest growing population in the U.S.
As people live longer, they experience more physical and cognitive disabilities, multiple chronic illnesses, and functional limitations.
More Americans than ever want to die at home. Numbers are increasing, but services for the dying and their families are inadequate. Caretaker burnout is an increasing and disturbing trend.
and there’s more . . .
Why Not?
COVID-19 has highlighted inequalities in access to health services, including palliative care.
Baby boomers (the 78 million Americans now in their 60s and 70s) value control over their bodies, along with individual choice and autonomy.
Relatively few people have clearly thought about and communicated their end of life wishes. Only about a third of Americans have written advanced directives and fewer than half have wills.
Greater conversation and documentation of patient wishes can help improve care delivery and avoid unwanted, burdensome, and costly care at end of life.
Solving Problems.
The Alliance is a grassroots effort, dedicated to bridging gaps between medical knowledge and lay people, and normalizing conversations about death and dying within communities and families. Goals are that as a result of our work:
People may embrace a less fearful, more purposeful approach to end of life.
They will reach clarity about their end of life wishes, and will be able to communicate them more effectively with their loved ones.
More people will have thoroughly thought through and completed advanced directives, which will also address issues like dementia/Alzheimer’s.
Communities will be more age-friendly, have a better sense of what aging in place requires, and will take initiative on issues like housing, walkability/transportation, and directing volunteer energy.
On-line resources on death and dying will be readily available to NH residents
and more . . .
Changing Lives.
Gaps in end of life services, such as in rural and other underserved areas, will be identified and strategies for addressing created.
Efforts around the state focused on end of life issues will be connected and strengthened.
Concerns about end of life particular to some communities (such as disabled residents, people with mental illness, people of color; issues such as access to quality care, loss of choices) will be better understood by institutions, advocates, and policy makers.
How Will We Do It?
With your help!
The Alliance is attracting a great range of people from all over the state with various skills, backgrounds, and experiences, with a passion for better approaches to end of life.
We have a strong founding board of directors, and have formed a Learning Community that studies and deeply discusses end of life issues, policies, and approaches. We are creating a Wisdom Council so more people can get directly involved with action teams in areas like Community Conversations & Education, and Policy Development & Advocacy, and Understanding & Creating Effective Advanced Directives.
We are reaching out to and networking with people involved in hospice, palliative care, disability rights, mental health, the faith community, community health, and aging issues. You can help right away by suggesting people with whom we should connect.
Tell us your own story about why end of life issues are important to you.
Join our Learning Community or help organize and/or serve on an action team.
Grassroots work is needed to accomplish the vision that we’ve described and we hope you share. It’s going to take a tremendous amount of listening, patience, and careful communications. It’s also going to require smart strategies, focus, and skill.