For two years Jane worked with a state Extension team to research, co-author, pilot and revise the Planning AHEAD curriculum. Planning AHEAD is a series of 7 sessions for adults where they learn about end-of-life decision making tasks including health care wishes, financial responsibilities, legal requirements and documentation, distribution of personal property, end-of-life care options, and dealing with grief.

A revised virtual Planning AHEAD evening series was facilitated in February 2022 targeting younger employees. Over 12 attendees participated with 84 contacts. Each attendee received the step-by-step workbook with resources to reinforce the content. Jane worked with the evaluation team to develop a post-session evaluation. Because of this series, 100% of the participants stated they learned enough to move forward with planning. One hundred percent “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that they have greater knowledge of advance medical and legal directives, estate planning, choices in end-of-life care and handling financial changes. One hundred percent of the respondents said that they felt more confident in having conversations with loved ones related to end-of-life wishes and knowing where to find reliable resources for more information on end-of-life planning. A majority of respondents indicated that in the next three months they will update their end-of-life planning forms, encourage someone else to do end-of-life planning, make end-of-life wishes, known and make a will or a trust. A majority of respondents indicated they would set up advance directives and choose a personal representative. Comments included: “necessary and thought provoking”… “relevant” … “needed”… “engaging”… “organized” and “awesome.”