On Healthcare Decision’s Day, Tuesday, April 16, Hospice of the Bluegrass will host a public forum to discuss the nationally acclaimed program, The Conversation Project, which is dedicated to helping people talk about their wishes for end-of-life care long before it is needed.

The forum will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Grief and Loss Center at 2312 Alexandria Dr. The event is free and open to the public. The forum will include a light dinner and a panel of end-of-life experts to walk attendees through The Conversation Project workbook, as well as ways to encourage conversations within their own families. Notaries will be on-hand to formalize documents, if requested.

According to The Conversation Project website, “Too many people are dying in a way they wouldn’t choose, and too many

of their loved ones are left feeling bereaved, guilty, and uncertain. It is time to transform our culture so we shift from not talking about dying to talking about it. It is time to share the way we want to live at the end of our lives. And it is time to communicate about the kind of care we want and don’t want for ourselves.”

In 2012, Hospice of the Bluegrass cared for more than 5,000 people. “Every day we see that hard decisions are much easier for families when an ill loved one has expressed their end-of-life preferences,” says Gretchen Brown, Hospice President and CEO. “The goal of this forum is to suggest tools and timing to make these difficult conversations less stressful, so that our own wishes and those of our loved ones are expressed and respected.”