The 91原创 Hospice Society is offering up learning on how to have a 'good death'.

The society has two 91原创 workshops April 10 and May 13 on advance care planning, or the plans a person puts in place for their end of life care.

"I think it's important because I think if we have our advanced care plan in place, it can help us have a good death," explained Angela Elemans, the society's palliative support coordinator. "And for me, a good death is making sure our wishes are carried out and we're not living in a situation that would be uncomfortable or unacceptable for us."

An advance care plan lays out what medical interventions a person nearing the end of life would want, for instance, CPR if breathing stops, oxygen if the person is struggling to breath, or IV fluids if unconscious but near death.

The plan lays out if people want extraordinary medical measures and when and under what circumstances as well as other aspects of care. Does a person want to go into hospice or die at home, for example.

"People are also sometimes in a situation where they can't speak for themselves and the medical team has to talk to family and get the family to make decisions. The family is in an extremely high stress situation, and for them to think clearly and make decisions in that moment is very difficult to do," Elemans noted. "But if a person has an advanced care plan, then the doctors just need to follow the direction of the advanced care plan."

She noted that people should always talk to family and loved ones about what they want in addition to having a plan on paper. At the workshops, people will learn about the plans and receive a B.C. government workbook that includes everything they need create one. For a plan to be legally valid, it must be witnessed by two independent sources.

"I think knowledge is power, and I think the more we know about what our options are, the better equipped we are for a good death," she said.

She admits these can be difficult conversations but they are vital.

"We don't want to talk about death, we don't want to face the reality of our mortality, and we don't have the language to talk about it," Elemans said.

But not talking about it can make a person's death harder for that person as well as loved ones. A death is the most common reason for surviving loved ones to have a falling out. Elemans teaches the hospice volunteers and often hears about family estrangements over a death.

"Death destroys more family relationships than almost anything else that I've heard in that classroom," she noted.

Elemans noted that an advance care plan is needed in addition to a will. And it's a document that must be reviewed as people age.

"It's something that should be reviewed. I think it's every year on your birthday, like review your plans. Because what I want today is going to be very different than what I want when I'm 85, right?," she noted. "So today, I'm healthy and active, and so if something happens to me, then yes, I might want more intervention. If I'm frail and 85 years old and riddled with disease, I don't want those same interventions."

The workshops are not just for older people.

"I had somebody come up to me and say, 'Am I too young to do an advanced care plan?," Elemans commented. "And I said, 'Are you too young to have cancer?' You know, it can happen so quickly, and especially with aggressive forms of cancer, where now you're bombarded with hundreds of decisions about your health today and tomorrow, that you're not thinking at the time of death, and you don't want to think at the time of death. Whereas if you already have that document in place, and you've had those conversations, then your family is aware."

April is Advance Care Planning Month, and the first workshop is Thursday, April 10, starting at 7 p.m. in Aldergrove. The second workshop is Tuesday, May 13, starting at 2 p.m. in 91原创 City.

For information or to register, contact angela@langleyhospice.ca or 604-530-1115. The workshops are free, but people must sign up in advance, when they find out the address for the workshops. Participants receive a workbook that can guide them through the process to create an advance care plan. Elemans noted people can make their own plan but for it to be legal plan, it needs to be witnessed by two independent people.

"We plan for every major event in our life. We do research when we buy our first car, our first home. We plan for our wedding.We plan for all these major events except our death, and death is a major event in everybody's life," Elemans said. "So the more we can talk about it, the more comfortable we get with it, the better equipped we are to help our family, both when they have to make decisions for us and in their grieving process."