Arrangements to Make in Advance

Many of the workshops include video clips. In many situations, the easiest way to share those clips is to stream them from the recommended website. However, if this is not possible in your setting, the recommended videos are generally available in public libraries and for purchase.

For Workshop 7:

  • Invite a medical professional with experience in end-of-life medicine, palliative care, or hospice care to explain some common end-of-life medical choices as well as advance directives.
  • Obtain copies of the Five Wishes booklet for all participants. Order them (at a small cost) from the Aging with Dignity website.

For Workshop 8:

  • Prepare a creative work about death and dying—a photograph, drawing, painting, poem, prose, song, music, ceramic piece, dance, or some other creative expression.

Field Trip(s):

(Recommended between Workshops 7 and 8, although the trip(s) may come any time after Workshop 6)

Arrange for a guided group visit to a funeral home, crematorium, or a cemetery. You may choose to do more than one trip.

The purpose of a trip to a funeral home or crematorium, or both, is to allow participants to speak directly with a funeral director and learn firsthand about cremation, embalming, and burial as well as other funeral preparations (for example, casket prices, Social Security and veterans’ benefits, death certificates).

The purpose of the cemetery visit is to explore an important section of a local city or town, to gain familiarity with the local history of the cemetery, to reflect on our culture’s desire to have a place set aside to mark the lives of family and friends, and to consider one's personal desire to have a marker in a cemetery or not. Invite a local cemetery guide or historian to accompany your group.