Imagine this. A husband is in ICU on life support. His wife has only a week to get paperwork sorted before a decision needs to be made to turn it off. Where does she find information and what are his wishes?
Or maybe a partner has suddenly died. How are the bills going to be paid if bank account details are unknown as well as income if only one partner manages the finances. What are the debits and loans? What are the credit cards and where in the world are they found?
These are some of the many scenarios prompting two friends and retired lawyers to develop a valuable community service and resource – a free website (www.mydeathproject.com) with a wheel filled with information, tools and links.
Known as ‘My Death Project’ the resource created by Beechworth’s Lori Callahan and Helen Allchurch in Sydney - who have also experienced the death of loved ones - draws together scattered information from across the web.
The pair set out in 2021 to create the resource to ease the burden of administration for loved ones left behind.
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“We decided a website is needed to help people be organised so that their grieving family is left without the huge stress and worry of sorting it all out,” she said.
“It's called ‘My Death Project’, because it's about your own death and doing these things yourself as a gift to your family.”
Ms Callahan said each link in the wheel has actions to be undertaken.
“The wheel is divided into practical, medical, values, beliefs, relationships, financial and legal sections,” she said.
Ms Callahan is a member of the Good2Go Collective created last year by Beechworth’s Nicole Parker and Rose Sexton in Wangaratta.
The collective is a group of end-of-life doulas living and working in the border regions of Albury Wodonga.
The Collective hosts a free Death Café on the third Friday of each month in Beechworth.
Ms Parker said the ‘My Death Project’ is the topic for discussion at the Friday, 19 September cafe.
The September café is also part of the annual ‘Dying to Know Day’ – a national day held on 8 August but has extended to an all-year-round campaign.
“It's really important to be talking around death, dying, grief and loss with people making their wishes known to their family,” she said.
Ms Parker said among many vital up-to-date documents is a will.
“People can be left grieving as well as in a huge state of stress and not knowing what to do when someone dies without a will,” she said.
“One of the ladies in our collective does probate, came along one day to our café and opened up the subject that was mind blowing.
"We had people who were executives to wills and didn't know about probate.”
Ms Parker said chats about advanced care directives are also included in café discussions.
“Once you've got your ducks lined up such as wills, power of attorney and advanced care and more done, you can get on with living the best life you can live because it’s all sorted,” she said.
The 19 September meeting with the focus on ‘My Death Project’ will be held the Masonic Lodge of St John, 19 Loch Street, Beechworth for a cuppa and cake over a chat from 11am to 1pm with everyone welcome.
