We welcome Massachusetts Senior Care Association and its research and education affiliate Massachusetts Senior Care Foundation as our newest Community Partners. Together, they champion research and education to advance excellence and high quality long term care for older adults and people with disabilities.  Mass Senior Care Association offers easy to understand information on care options…

“The Town Where Everyone Talks About Death”, recently broadcast by WBUR Boston’s NPR News Station,  spotlights the people of La Crosse Wisconsin and Respecting Choices. For many years now, the town has made advance care planning part of its everyday culture using the Respecting Choices model as its guide. The people of LaCrosse routinely make…

Say the word “hospice” aloud to almost anyone blessed with good health and they reflexively think of death and dying. Recently I found myself thinking about that: that a word so obviously related to “hospitality” has lost its origins in the minds of so many. Interestingly, the ancient Latin “hospitium” means much more than merely…

“Bridging the gap between the health care system and individual community members and families is essential for driving access to quality health care and achieving health equity,” says Joanne Calista, Executive Directive of Central Massachusetts Area Health Education Center, Inc.  Honoring Choices Massachusetts welcomes Central Massachusetts Area Health Education Center, Inc. (CM AHEC, Inc.), a powerful advocate…

Before a new resident moves in, nursing homes or long-term care facilities generally have you sign an admission agreement. Most of us know it’s best to consult a lawyer before signing any agreement that represents such a serious commitment, but for many reasons these agreements are often signed without the benefit that consult would provide.…

One of the enduring misconceptions that Honoring Choices set out to change is the commonly held belief that “health care planning” is synonymous with “end of life care.” It’s certainly true that “health care planning” includes both an everyday care planning with your doctors for the kind of care you want at every stage of…

Honoring Choices has partnered with Regis College and its School of Nursing as the first major academic institution in the Commonwealth to incorporate the Honoring Choices Massachusetts health care planning model across its nursing school curriculum.  Kellie La Pierre, Assistant Professor, GNP-BC, explains the innovative changes underway in the School of Nursing this way: “We…