This past April, The Conversation Project produced and helped develop a multitude of new resources designed to further our initiative of ensuring that everyone, everywhere expresses their end-of-life wishes and that their wishes are respected. From animated videos to launching a letter-writing campaign, these new materials/resources underscore the importance of having the conversation and they can be put to use in a number of ways: you can easily share them if you’re leading a presentation in your setting, they can act as helpful content to engage your social media audience, or they can be presented as evidence to gain stakeholder buy-in. However you choose to use these resources, know that we share them with you generously and we encourage you to steal them shamelessly! Checkout the list below to see what’s new!
Ellen Goodman Does the Math (Video)
In a national survey conducted by The Conversation Project, we discovered some interesting facts! Eighty percent of Americans say that want to have the conversation with their doctors about end-of-life care. Can you guess the percentage of people who have actually done so? Watch this short video and learn about the statistics behind Americans’ wishes and their engagement in end-of-life conversations.
Over the years, we’ve learned that one of the most powerful ways someone can express their wishes is through writing a letter. We’ve seen powerful letters from moms ensuring their family that no matter what happens, it’s OK; to people critically thinking through and writing out what matters most to them at the end of their life. Like them, we encourage you to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). We’ll be collecting as many letters as we can and hope to share different examples with you as we receive them. If you’re willing to have us share yours, please send it our way (conversationproject@ihi.org). The first ten submissions will receive a TCP Talking Matters pin.
Spanish Translations: TCP Standard Slide Deck & On-Site Evaluation Form
Many of TCP’s champions in the field use our standard slide deck to lead presentations within their communities and following their presentations, they distribute evaluations to assess the effectiveness of what they taught. These resources have been proven to be an effective way to share the TCP message and we want to ensure that they are accessible to as many people as possible. We’ve translated these materials into Spanish with the hope that it will be useful to Spanish-speaking communities. We hope to continue to make our resources more accessible to individuals and communities whose primary language is not English.
So, you just finished watching a movie, reading a book or listened to a sermon related to advance care planning. Now what? This guide is designed to help people practically incorporate their learnings from any form of presentation into actionable steps. You can check it out here, or on our Community Resources Page and use it as a handout at your next event!
The Conversation Project prides itself in the plethora of free resources we offer to the public. However, we know that it sometimes can be a bit challenging to access the right materials when you’re new to TCP or would like to easily get started. We’ve created a “tops tools” page to address this challenge! This page contains a brief overview of who we are, our flagship Starter Kits with corresponding videos and guiding resources to help you share your end-of-life wishes with your loved ones. Click here to access the page and let us know what you think (conversationproject@ihi.org).
Having the Conversation I Encourage Others to Have
In this powerful JAMA article, Kate Lally, MD shares her experience of grappling with her cancer diagnosis and how her personal journey has informed the ways in which she engages her patients in end-of-life discussions. This gripping piece eloquently captures the significance of providers having the conversation with their loved ones before they have the conversation with their patients.
We are always looking for ways to improve our resources and/or the way we execute our work. Please share with us how you used these resources and if you have any feedback!(conversationproject@ihi.org)