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End of life
by Raeann Bossarte

How and when we die have changed dramatically during the past 100 years. In 1900, the average age of death was 46 years; most people died from infection, accident or childbirth; it was unusual to have a lengthy disability before death; and the costs of dying were low and mostly covered by the family.

Advances in technology have changed all this. The average age of death in the 21st century is 78 years. We are now most likely going to die from cancer, heart disease, stroke or dementia. We will be disabled by our illnesses, on average, more than four years. And dying costs us more because of the length of disability and the costs of interventions and medications to extend life or relieve pain and suffering. Most of us will not be able to pay for our own health care and will rely on Medicare and Medicaid programs. But most shockingly, most of us say we want to die at home, yet 80 percent of us die in hospitals or other health care institutions such as nursing homes.

What this means is that we need to take personal responsibility now for planning how we want to die; to prepare both ourselves and our families so in disability and dying we can have the quality of life we want. We cannot do this without communication to those we love and to those who are providing our health care.

The End-Of-Life Coalition was created in April to prepare for and in response to the recently aired Bill Moyers special "On Our Own Terms." In the coalition, health care providers, spiritual leaders and caring individuals are working together to find ways to make it easier for people to talk about death. We can have a better life and death if we can we talk to our families about how we want to die. We can have a better grieving process if we can talk about how we feel about the death of a co-worker or a social peer. We can give our children a better understanding of life if we can openly talk to them about death. And, we can have our wishes for our lives honored, no matter how long we have to live, if we can be more open when we talk with our doctors.

There will be a discussion group, "Open Conversations about End-of-Life Issues," on Monday, Nov. 13, at 10 a.m. in the Humboldt Senior Resource Center Conference Room. The facilitator will be Rev. Diana Gates, Hospice of Humboldt Chaplain. Some of the materials and ideas presented will be from the recent Bill Moyers special "On Our Own Terms."

Raeann Bossarte is director of marketing for Hospice of Humboldt, 707-445-8443.

One-time article Copyright 2000 by Humboldt Senior Resource Center .