Caring Info - About Us

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Caring Connections, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), is a national consumer and community engagement initiative to improve care at the end of life, supported by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Caring Connections

Provides free resources and information to help people make decisions about end-of-life care and services before a crisis.
Brings together community, state and national partners working to improve end-of-life care through a national campaign called It's About How You LIVE.

Free Resources

State-specific advance directives
Easy to read publications on these and other topics:
- Talking about end-of-life wishes
- Supporting someone who is grieving
- Caring for your loved ones
- Talking to your doctor about pain or illness
- Understanding hospice and palliative care services
- Paying for long-term care
- Caring for a seriously ill child

HelpLine - 800-658-8898

Knowledgeable and compassionate people to:

Provide a compassionate ear and answer questions on end-of-life issues;
Provide a variety of free consumer brochures, state-specific advance directives and contact information for community services.

Multilingual Line – 877-658-8896

Bi-lingual staff are available to assist callers with end-of-life care issues and send free materials in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese on a variety of end-of-life topics.

It’s About How You LIVE: A National Public Engagement Campaign to Improve Care at the End of Life.

It’s About How You LIVE is a national campaign to empower people to make informed decisions about end-of-life care and services. The goal of the LIVE campaign is to provide a unified message across the country that motivates people to take action to improve end-of-life care for themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.

The central message of the LIVE campaign is to encourage people to:

Learn about options for end-of-life services and care
Implement plans to ensure wishes are honored
Voice decisions to family, friends and healthcare providers
Engage in personal or community efforts to improve end-of-life care

History of Caring Connections

Caring Connections began in 2004 with generous funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Caring Connections works to ensure that individuals have access to information that informs advance care planning, care at the end of life and the grief process. Caring Connections relies on philanthropic support to fund the free services provided to tens of thousands of individuals each year, including a toll-free HelpLine, a multi-language HelpLine, outreach to traditionally under-served populations and free educational materials, including advance directives.

Caring Connections was fortunate to be able to build on the tremendous work of previously-funded RWJF programs to improve end-of-life care. In 2004 the Last Acts Partnership, an RWJF grantee, ceased operations and NHPCO purchased the assets to continue their work. Last Acts Partnership was formed when Partnership for Caring (formerly Choice in Dying) merged with Last Acts, a program that was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization

Support for this Web site was provided by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey. www.rwjf.org