Description
Care Planning Cookies – cookies with a message inside, each one intended to stimulate conversations about living well and dying well.
Conversations about living well and dying well can be challenging, but they are important, so we have developed Care Planning Cookies to help you get the conversations started.
Care Planning Cookies can stimulate discussion with 17 messages, randomly placed, inside these edible cookies. Use this set of cookies to engage participants in thinking and talking about living – with a gentle introduction to issues surrounding dying and death. Conversation starters include:
- What matters to you, what you do every day that gives your life meaning – walking your dog, socializing with friends, watching your favourite show, going to sports games, working
- Who you talk with about important events
- Who would be willing to honour your wishes and speak of your behalf, if you were unable
- The importance of learning about different medical procedures that might be offered to you in the future
We invite you to prepare. We invite you to talk about living well and dying well… so you can have real peace of mind, because both Life and Death Matter!
Team Leader –
Already handed a couple out to our volunteers. What a brilliant idea! Kudos to you guys for thinking of this. It will definitely stimulate a conversation on a difficult topic for most of us. I went on a local radio station this morning to promote the Advance Care Planning open house at Hospice tomorrow and I gave the announcer a cookie to open on air. It was so cool! She got the one that asked, “Who would you choose to make decisions for you if you were unable?”. Her answer was priceless – she said whoever it would be had to make sure that they drove her boss nutty every day just like she did. We had a great chuckle and I said it doesn’t have to be doom and gloom when you read what’s in the cookie. Even if you share a laugh, you are still talking about it, and it may open a door to continue the conversation at a later date.
Sharron B – Columbia College –
The Practical Nursing Department at Columbia College Calgary is planning to use the cookies to support students in the difficult discussions regarding advanced care planning during theory courses, clinical lab courses and in the clinical practicum setting.
Polly M. – Algonquin College –
I’ve only had the Conversation Cookies for 3 PSW contracts through Algonquin College now but what I like to do with them is two fold. First, during the initial class, following their initial introductions, I like to pass a cookie platter around the circle of about 15 to 20 students and ask the individual to choose a cookie to enjoy and once everyone has finished their intros we address the message or question within their cookie. Again during the 8th week which is our lab, I give the cookies out again and it is amazing to see the difference in how they answer the questions this far into the course. They are so much more comfortable in their discussions about end of life issues by this time that it confirms to me and them that I have been able to empower the group to see that they can and have made a difference in the care they are able to provide their end of life clients with. For me, even a slight degree of new found comfort in talking about these issues is a win, win situation for all concerned.
T. Pask – Bluewater Health –
Our Advance Care Planning Committee plan to celebrate ACP day in our atrium. We will hand out care planning cookies to visitors and staff, asking them to read the message inside the cookie and if comfortable, provide an answer. It is a great way for people to think about their future health care decisions and initiate conversations. The cookies are a fun and creative way to acknowledge the importance of advance care planning!
Patricia McClelland – Yukon Community Network of Older Adults & Yukon College –
We (Yukon Community Network for Older Adults, York University & Yukon College Health Education and Human Services School) are hosting a Webinar on Promising Practices in Long Term Care on April 16 at Yukon College. Pat Armstrong, co-author of the report will be talking to us via Fuze (similar to Skype). The Care Planning Cookies would be a wonderful way to acknowledge the importance of planning – not only for Long Term Care, but also individually, as we are expecting a variety of participants; community members of all ages, students, educators, and health care providers. Yukoners from any of the communities can join the webinar using their computer, so travel to Whitehorse is not required.