Aging with Dignity is a national non-profit organization based in Tallahassee, Florida. The stated mission of Aging with Dignity is to "honor the God-given human dignity of the most vulnerable among us". The primary focus of Aging with Dignity is to improve end-of-life care by encouraging people to make medical decisions in advance of a serious illness.

History

Aging with Dignity was founded in 1996 by

Jim Towey Harry James Towey II (; born October 1, 1956) is an American former government official and academic administrator. Towey was appointed secretary of the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services by Governor Lawton Chiles in 1993, ...

, who was inspired by his twelve years of work as legal counsel for Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Founding advisory board members include former Florida Governors Lawton Chiles, Jeb Bush, and

Bob Graham Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham (born November 9, 1936) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 38th governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States senator from Florida from 1987 to 2005. He is a member of the Dem ...

, Assistant Secretary on Aging

Josefina Carbonell Josefina G. Carbonell is a Cuban-born American government official. She was the third Assistant Secretary for Aging at the Administration on Aging within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She was appointed by President Bush in 200 ...

and US Senator Bill Nelson among others. Initial support was provided by the Claude Pepper Foundation, the Harry & Jeannette Weinberg Foundation, and the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

Leadership

In addition to founding Aging with Dignity, Jim Towey served as President until his appointment in 2002 as director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He was succeeded by current President Paul Malley.

Projects

Five Wishes

Five Wishes Five Wishes is a United States advance directive created by the non-profit organization Aging with Dignity. It has been described as the "living will with a heart and soul". History Five Wishes was originally introduced in 1996 as a Florida-onl ...

is a national advance directive that meets the legal requirements in 44 States and the District of Columbia. A Florida-only version was introduced in 1997, followed by a national version in 1998. An online version called Five Wishes Online was introduced in April 2011 allowing users to complete the document using an online interface or print out a blank version to complete by hand. More than 35 million documents are in circulation, distributed by more than 35,000 organizations worldwide. The document combines two legal documents, a living will and health care power of attorney in addition to addressing matters of comfort care, spirituality, forgiveness, and final wishes.

Translations

Five Wishes has been translated into 29 different languages: Albanian; Arabic; Armenian; Bengali; Chinese Traditional; Chinese Simplified; Croatian; Farsi; French; German; Gujarati; Haitian Creole; Hebrew; Hindi; Hmong; Ilocano; Italian; Japanese; Khmer; Korean; Polish; Portuguese; Punjabi; Russian; Somali; Spanish; Tagalog; Urdu; Vietnamese.

Voicing My Choices

Voicing My Choices is a planning guide for adolescents and young adults. It seeks to helps young people living with a serious illness to communicate their preferences to friends, family and caregivers. The document was developed by researchers at the Pediatric Oncology Branch,

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

and the National Institute of Mental Health at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

My Wishes

My Wishes is a pediatric document that helps children communicate how they want to be treated if they become very sick. Based on Five Wishes and developed by child life professionals, My Wishes was introduced nationally in May 2006. The document seeks to empower children to make their wishes known, and to facilitate communication with family and health care providers. The My Wishes document is also available in Spanish (Mis Deseos).

Hope Today

The Hope Today Project is a pilot project serving residents of Franklin and Wakulla counties in Northern Florida. The stated mission of Hope Today is to build networks of support to locate and care for seniors and disabled individuals living alone. The program is intended to serve as a model for replication in other communities.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://agingwithdignity.org/ Non-profit organizations based in Florida