In the News
Press Releases
Worcester Non-Profit Responds
to Current End-of-Life Controversy
Community Partnership Helps Families Plan Ahead
Educational Campaign Begins with Public Service Announcement
(Worcester, MA, May 3, 2005)—Now more than ever, families throughout the Worcester region and beyond are discussing and debating the serious issue of planning for the end of life. A local agency is poised and prepared to assist the seriously ill and their loved ones before those agonizing final days approach, through an innovative and accessible advance care planning initiative called Better Ending.
Better Ending is a creation of the Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, Inc., located in Worcester. The Partnership is a community coalition of professional, civic, business and religious leaders committed to the vision that all persons in Central Massachusetts live their last days in this life as comfortably as possible, in the setting of their choice, according to their expressed wishes, while they and their families are supported by a caring community.
Currently, the Better Ending initiative is being promoted through an ongoing Public Service Announcement (PSA) that directs the general public to the useful website and phone number. Additional public outreach efforts are in the planning stages and will be enacted in the coming months.
“Better Ending is here to help answer questions, provide information on planning instructions and health care proxy forms, and be a guiding resource to families feeling helpless,” confirmed Christine McCluskey, Executive Director of The Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, Inc. “Don’t wait until it is too late to begin a dialogue with your loved ones, health care providers, and to the person who will best carry out your wishes. The national news is full of tragic stories of individuals and families who found themselves without a plan to help them cope with these painful situations.”
The Better Ending initiative is fully described on the web site www.betterending.org. Information, instructions, the eight-page brochure A Guide for a Better Ending, a Massachusetts health care proxy form, and related materials are available directly from the site, and easily downloadable. Through Better Ending’s Speakers Bureau, volunteers are available—at no charge—to appear before community groups interested in learning about advance care planning and other end-of-life issues.
Founded in 2002, The Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, Inc. is supported through the generosity of many grantors and in-kind donors including businesses, health care institutions, foundations, and individual donors.
For further information, contact Christine McCluskey, RN, Executive Director, Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, Inc. at (508) 767-9877 or visit www.betterending.org.
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