End-of-Life University

Learn about a new platform that helps people create their own obituary or legacy project to benefit their loved ones after death.

My guests are Maggie Gannon, an Adult Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist who started My Living Obituary, and Heidi Connolly, an author, musician and intuitive coach who helps people write their obituaries. Maggie created My Living Obituary to help palliative care and hospice teams increase quality of life and improve patient experience. Heidi helps people using the platform craft their own stories to leave behind as a legacy for their loved ones. Learn more about their work at these websites:

Maggie: www.mylivingobituary.com

Heidi: www.theobitwriter.net and www.heidiconnolly.com

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This episode includes:

• The evidence behind legacy therapy to enhance dignity at the end of life based on research by Dr. Harvey Chochinov
• How telling our life story helps us find meaning in our existence
• Legacy therapy helps improve quality of life and decrease depression for patients
• Studies have shown that family members benefit from legacy therapy as well
• Listening to patients’ stories has been shown to increase their sense of worth and value
• How the legacy therapy platform can be incorporated into the intake process for patients and used to measure quality of life and bill for advance care planning
• Tips for writing an obituary:
  • Just get started
  • You don’t have to be a good writer
  • Make lists of characteristics, preferences, stories
  • Find a good “hook” for the story
  • Include poems, music, videos
• The benefits of having a guide and a platform to help people craft an obituary
• Creating your own living obituary before you die helps unburden loved ones at the time of your death
• How this platform allows unlimited space for obituaries, unlike newspaper obituaries
• How clinical staff can use the platform to enroll new patients and assist them with the life review questions

Links mentioned in this episode:

• What Really Matters Podcast
• Dr. Harvey Chochinov: Dignity Therapy research
• My Living Obituary for hospice and palliative care organizations here

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