(l-r) Anthony Palumbo, Hospice of Citrus County; Nancy Dohn, Haven Hospice; Governor Jeb Bush; Florence Crawford, AIDS Healthcare Foundation/Positive Healthcare; Sue Deakin, Hospice of Palm Beach County; Paul Malley, President of Aging with Dignity. Photo credit: Stan Piet, Martineer Imagery.
Hospice of Palm Beach County has received national recognition for promoting advanced care planning by Aging with Dignity, a private, non-profit organization and advocate for dignified care of the elderly and physically-challenged. Florida Governor Jeb Bush joined Aging with Dignity founder, Jim Towey, to commend 10 Florida organizations as Pacesetters and five national as Innovators, for their roles as leaders in distributing Aging with Dignitys advanced directive tool Five Wishes. Paul Malley, President of Aging with Dignity, announced that Hospice of Palm Beach County was the top 2006 Florida Pacesetter, sharing, “We filled an order of 30,000 copies of Five Wishes for Hospice of Palm Beach County and less than three weeks later received a request for an additional 30,000 copies in English as well as more in Spanish. Their outreach efforts are remarkable.” Gov. Bush said, “The success of Five Wishes shows that people want to talk about care at the end of life in terms that are meaningful and relatable.” Five Wishes, the most popular advanced directive in America, was created by Aging with Dignity a decade ago. It is easy to use, easy to understand, and allows people to make important end-of-life decisions before a health crisis by facilitating communication among families, patients, and health care providers.
