TranslateAdvance Care Resources
The following resources offer additional information, tools, and education about advance care planning, including links to download Advance Health Care Directive forms. Most are directive forms are free; some require a small fee. Many sites have forms in Spanish, Chinese, and other languages in addition to English. Many healthcare systems also provide forms. In California, there is no single official Advance Health Care Directive form. You can use the one you like best to document your wishes.
Sonoma County Resources
Caring Community, Community Network Journey Project
caringcommunity.org
Advance care planning resources including the "End of Life Values-Choices Checklist," and special resources for people with serious mental health challenges, such as "Talking Things Over, With Mental Health in Mind" and "Making a Plan—Thinking Ahead."
Online Advance Care Planning Information
Prepare for Your Care
prepareforyourcare.org
PREPARE offers step-by-step guidance, with videos, for completing an advance health care directive. This site offers a California form in many languages, as well as forms for other states in English and Spanish. The California form in Spanish includes the English translation and is legally valid.
Coalition for Compassionate Care of California
coalitionccc.org
This resource-rich website includes information for healthcare professionals and patients. For consumers, the website offers advance care planning conversation tools, guidance for medical decision makers, information on the POLST form and the End of Life Option Act, as well as links to seven different advance health care directives.
Five Wishes
fivewishes.org
Five Wishes supports a "family conversation" approach to discussing and documenting your choices for end-of-life care. The Five Wishes workbook covers personal, spiritual, medical, and legal wishes in one document. It is legally valid in most states. There is a small fee.
The Conversation Project
theconversationproject.org
This site hosts a number of "conversation starter kits": One on talking with others about your end-of-life care wishes, and others on specific topics such as preparing for dementia, talking with your doctor, talking with a seriously ill child, and choosing (or being) a medical decision maker.
Resources for Related Concerns
Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)
capolst.org
A POLST form is medical orders for people who are have a serious chronic or progressive condition or are medically frail. It is printed on bright pink paper and signed by both the patient and a physician. This site provides sample forms and guidance for completion.
Advance Directive for Dementia
dementia-directive.org
This website provides a document you can attach to your advance health care directive to describe the medical care you would want if you were diagnosed with dementia.
Go Wish
gowish.org
Go Wish is a card game to explore what is most important to you when thinking about a life shortened by serious illness. You can play alone or with friends and family. Play online for free!
CaringInfo
caringinfo.org
Developed by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, this website offers guidance on advance care planning, palliative care, hospice care, caregiving, and grief and loss. It includes health care directives for all states.
Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA)
caregiver.org
Family Caregiver Alliance supports families and friends who care for adult loved ones with chronic, disabling health conditions. The website offers fact sheets and resources for managing care, coping with specific diagnoses, and planning for a loved one's decision-making incapacity.
Professional Fiduciary Association of California
pfac-pro.org
Donate Life California
donatelifecalifornia.org
You can register online with this state-authorized nonprofit organization to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor. The website also describes how donation works, and how to dis-enroll if desired.
Willed Body Program at UCSF
willedbodyprogram.ucsf.edu
Bodies donated to medical schools are used for teaching and research. The University of California San Francisco is one of five University of California programs to accept donated bodies. This must be pre-arranged by the individual wishing to donate his or her body. This website provides the forms.
Consumer Guide to Funeral and Cemetery Purchases
cfb.ca.gov
You can make arrangements in advance for yourself or a loved one to relieve survivors of managing this task in the midst of grief. The California Department of Consumer Affairs' Cemetery and Funeral Bureau booklet provides guidance for making decisions about cremation, funeral, and cemetery arrangements.