DOCUMENTING YOUR FINAL WISHES

Documenting your final wishes and organizing your vital information, especially when a family needs to access their loved one’s records, makes it imperative that records are available immediately. When a family needs to access their loved one’s advanced directives or last wishes, such records may be in a variety of places in the home, with an attorney or in the bank safe deposit box. Here is a story about such an event.

About Terry Black

Hello, my name is Terry Ann Black. I was a registered nurse for forty-seven years. I worked in different departments in the hospital and in office practices. I was an emergency room nurse. The ER is a place with many different crises during each day. This is where I learned the importance of documenting your final wishes.

Documenting Your Final Wishes

When my father-in-law died in an auto accident, I found a safe deposit box key in his apartment. The key had no identification as to where the box was located. I looked everywhere, tried everything…but never found the box. What might be inside it? Cash, gold, jewelry, collectibles? No one would ever know. This is where I learned about the absolute necessity of documenting your final wishes.

In response to the many people of all ages and backgrounds who want to document their last wishes and organize their vital information, in 1992, I wrote my first edition of “Caring Is Not Enough.” Today, in the 5th edition of “Caring Is Not Enough” my clients can document not only their last wishes, but every important bit of information necessary for emergencies.

Vital Information for Loved Ones

The book is available in a standard edition and a GLBT edition. Thousands of people across the country and around the world are grateful for the guidance this booklet has provided in “Caring Is Not Enough.”

As a Commissioner for the Senior Services Commission of Lafayette, California, I now work to enrich the lives of the elderly in my hometown.

End of life issues are not easy to discuss. Guidance is important. Documenting your final wishes is vital.

I am a well-known lecturer on documentation and end of life issues. My book, “Caring Is Not Enough: A Workbook for Emergency & End of Life Planning” is a simple way to give you peace of mind about a difficult issue; for you, your family and your friends.