Advance Care Planning

Iowa City Hospice and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization encourage people to plan for the end-of-life care they would want and to share their wishes with family and healthcare providers.

There are many steps individuals can take:

• Complete an advance directive, also known as a living will.
• Talk about your wishes with family, friends, and healthcare professionals.
• The end of a life is never easy. We can take steps to make sure our wishes are honored and that our families receive support they need.
• The conversations we have with each other about end-of-life decisions are important questions each of us should answer, regardless of age.
• Talk now, before a crisis, to ensure that family conflict or uncertainty about end-of-life treatment decisions don’t make a difficult situation even more complicated.

Iowa City Hospice has end-of-life resources available, including:

• Brochures and other information to help people learn about advance care planning and about hospice as an end-of-life care option
• Speakers available to talk to churches and other groups
• Staff to talk with people about end-of-life care concerns
• Iowa City Hospice staff who can come to doctors’ offices to assist medical professionals in starting a conversation with a patient or family member about hospice care

Click here for an extensive list of links with additional information about end-of-life care.