Juntos con Esperanza hosted our third community outreach event on January 31, 2020 at Holy Trinity Church, Greenfield

More than 100 people (children to grandparents) attended our third community outreach event focusing on conversations about death and dying using the GoWish Card Game in Spanish and English.

Facilitators at each of the participant tables guided attendees in the use of the cards and shared their table’s top three choices for end-of-life wishes with the entire room.

Juntos con Esperanza, Together with Hope is a collaborative of organizations and individuals committed to working together on end-of-life care for people in South Monterey County to better understand what makes it so hard for all people, especially in the Latino culture, to talk about end of life and to improve services to this community. Our goal is to make life better by helping families get good care when they need it, in the way they need it, with respect for their culture, faith and family. Members include: Alliance on Aging, Alzheimer’s Association, Central Coast VNA & Hospice, Community Leaders, Diocese of Monterey, First Baptist Church of King City, HG Foundation, Hospice of the Central Coast, Legal Services for Seniors, Mee Memorial Hospital, Monterey Department of Social Services – In Home Supportive Services, Natividad Medical Center, Sol Treasures and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.

GoWish cards help people find the words to talk about what is important to them if they were to be living a life that may be shortened by serious illness. The cards describe how people want to be treated, who they want near them, and what matters to them. The point of the game is not to create a written list of “what I want,” but to stimulate conversations about what is important and why. Many people remark that when they play the game several times, the way they sort the cards changes a bit, but that this helps them refine their thinking about what their values are and how those values would apply in different situations.

An initiative of HG Foundation.