How did we get here? We had our planned retirement ahead of us. But instead, he was here dying. We stayed together until the end.

Some of the key points covered in this module include:

• Practical considerations if your family is thinking about a home death.

• Some of the mixed emotions families experience with a planned home death including if you (or other family members) change your mind later on.

• Ways to help prepare yourself as death nears including getting important documents in order, medication changes, loss of consciousness, and the role of honouring rituals at this time.

• Concerns many caregivers have for the person who is ill as death approaches including the pain they may experience and the difficult choices they may have to make.

• Considerations for being at the bedside of the person who is dying such as if they can hear you when unconscious, listening to the person, and providing reassurance.

• How to prepare children and youth for the death of the person who is ill including some basic suggestions for having the conversation, encouraging questions, and respecting how the child or youth would like to be notified of the death.

• The physical signs of when death is near as well as the final physical changes that happen.