About this item
From the president of Compassion & Choices, the guide to achieving the positive end-of-life experience you want and deserve. It's hard to talk about death in America. But even though the topic has been taboo, life's end is an eventual reality. So why not shape it to our values? FINISH STRONG is for those of us who want an end-of-life experience to match the life we've enjoyed. We know we should prepare, but are unsure how to think and talk about it, how to live true to our values and priorities, and how to make our wishes stick. The usual advice about advance directives and conversations is important but woefully inadequate. This book describes concrete action in the here and now to help live our best lives to the end. FINISH STRONG will guide you through: * Finding a partner-doctor to honor your values and beliefs with humanity, deference and candor.
About the Author
Finish Strong is for you, the healthcare consumer. It covers the tough issues around aging and dying other books shy away from. This book was a long time in the making - a lifetime actually. It offers some of the fruits of my labors in medicine and healthcare advocacy. If you count the years I volunteered as a candy striper under the stern tutelage of the nursing nuns at St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet, Illinois, I've worked in healthcare almost fifty-five years. Dozens of clinical settings and assignments, countless patient encounters, years of advocacy in courtrooms and statehouses, decades of observation and experience - those are the seeds of the fruits borne by these pages.Finishing strong will be different for different people. Some will examine their options carefully and decide to dedicate their final months to experimental and taxing treatment. Others may decide to spend precious energy focusing on passing life lessons and values on to their heirs. But for those who choose to "Finish Strong," the common thread will be a certain strength in knowing that treatment decisions were well-considered, and they honored the values and beliefs that gave meaning to the life that is ending.Finish Strong reflects my passionate conviction that individuals can be empowered to chart a course for themselves and loved ones that reduces suffering and reflects their personal values and beliefs. I dearly hope the stories, commentary and tips in Finish Strong will have a positive influence on your life and your healthcare choices.* * * Author bio Over more than five decades, Barbara Coombs Lee worked in healthcare as a clinician, policy-maker and advocate. Her indelible bedside experiences forged a deep respect for individual values and beliefs and eventually led her to a career in law and health policy. For the last 25 years, she has advocated for initiatives that allow individuals a full range of options and much greater agency in their healthcare decisions.Barbara's work in public policy culminated in her roles as CEO and now President of Compassion & Choices, the nation's oldest and largest organization working to empower everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. Thousands of personal experiences and the teachings of scholars and thought leaders around the globe inform her perspective. She is a seasoned writer, speaker and commentator.Barbara's passion for transforming the end-of-life experience by informing and empowering patients infuses her new book FINISH STRONG. She calls for all Americans to join a patient-driven movement to dismantle the institutional and cultural barriers to living well to the very end.She lives in Oregon.
