Kōkua Mau’s ‘Let’s Talk Story’ Program
Kōkua Mau wants to get our community talking about what matters most and how to care well for those with serious illness.
Our Let’s Talk Story Program goes out to community organizations, churches and temples, book clubs or senior centers with our free, 2-hour interactive sessions facilitated by Kōkua Mau’s trained experts. We know these are not easy conversations but they are some of the most important that you will ever have.
We want to help individuals and families to understand decisions they may need to make and find resources and information in our community.
Goals of our Let’s Talk Story program:
- Learn how to talk with your loved ones about what matters most to you.
- Share about the kind of care you want to receive with your doctor.
- Help you feel more confident and ready for the future.
Two Sessions: Let’s Talk Story
The Let’s Talk Story program is set up as two interconnected talks. We will work with you to determine what works best for your particular audience. We strongly encourage you to host both sessions, since our experience teaches us that this has the biggest impact.
The First Session: Exploring your ideas and beliefs
An interactive session which explores how you like to make decisions, who should be involved and the type of medical care you do and don’t want. We also cover basics of advance care planning and preparing you for the conversation with loved ones
The Second Session: Implementation. A hands-on implementation of the lessons learned in Session 1. One or two weeks apart, participants will have time to absorb the information and think it over. In this second interactive session, all are encouraged to ask questions fill out an Advance Directive to appoint an agent and document wishes for care.
Options/Topics for Let’s Talk Story:
Kōkua Mau has a cadre of trained speakers who can engage with your audience in any of the three focal areas:
I
Get the Conversation Going! Making your care wishes known. This session utilizes the Starter Kit from the Conversation Project, a free tool that allows people to start thinking and talking about how they make decisions, who should be involved and what types of treatments they want and don’t want. We encourage people to talk with loved ones and go home and do more research.
II
The importance of Advance Care Planning: Understanding Advance Directives and POLST. This session will clarify the difference between the two documents that exist. Advance directives (AD) are for everyone 18 and older and is the way in Hawai‘i for us to designate a health care agent, that person who would speak for us if we cannot speak for ourselves. The AD also allows you to document your wishes for care at the end of life (what some refer to as the Living Will.) POLST (Providers Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) is another important document that is a portable medical order for people facing serious illness. It is not needed for everyone but it is very important that caregivers and people facing serious illness understand what it does and does not do. If you started with the Starter Kit form the Conversation project we recommend this session as the second session after we get people talking.
III
Myths about Hospice. Hospice is a fully covered benefit but most people are not taking advantage of it. Hospice provides a full team of professionals (doctor, nurse, social worker, aide, chaplain) who will come to the home and work the person who is dying and their team (family and loved ones.) Misunderstanding about hospice persist and federal regulations change so we will facilitate speakers from hospice to answer up-to-date information about who qualifies, what the benefit entails, support for loved ones, including bereavement, etc.
If your group is interested in a free workshop on this important topic, book a Kokua Mau speaker online or call (808) 585-9977.
We offer two Let’s Talk Story flyers. Please choose the one that best serves your needs.