Holiday season is a good time to 'Talk Turkey' about loved ones' end of life wishes

Thanksgiving and the holidays are a perfect time to talk with your friends and family about what matters most in life.
When people are together for Thanksgiving and the holidays, there’s no better time to have meaningful conversations and heartfelt sharing about matters truly important to each of us.
Minnesota Public Radio’s Cathy Wurzer opened discussions two years ago about living and dying well during her two visits to Luverne.
Called “The Convenings,” they engaged people in answering two questions: “How can we live meaningful lives in spite of disease and disability?” and “How to we want that end to go?”
The Convenings transformed into “End in Mind” and Wurzer continues her mission to discuss living well through dying.
The End in Mind website encourages family members to discus end-of-life wishes during holiday gatherings and put those wishes on paper in the form of an advance care directive.
According to Wurzer, “It takes awhile between the seed being planted to the flowering and big mind-shift of life change to happen.”
Have you put your end of life wishes on paper yet?
Have you even taken the first step and talked about it?
“Talk Turkey” began because too many people were not dying in the way that they would choose.
Similarly too many survivors were left feeling guilty, depressed and uncertain about whether they had done the right thing for their loved ones.
So as you sit down to holiday meals together, start the conversation. Need help? The End in Mind website offers some questions to ask:
•What really makes life worth living?
•What memories do you have of people in your life “living right up until the end?”
•When you think about the future, who will be important in your life?
•What do you want to be sure your caregivers know about you?
•If you could no longer communicate, what message do you want to still be heard?
A health care directive is where answers to these questions should be documented.
The End of Life website also has downloadable health care directives that outline who you want making end of life decisions if you cannot make decisions yourself.
Talk at the dinner table with loved ones before there is a crisis. End of life decisions shouldn’t be left to the last minute or completed by medical personnel you haven’t met.
So while you’re eating turkey today, carve out time to Talk Turkey among your friends and family members, make the decisions and get one thing off your plate this holiday season.