Crossroads Hospice provides our patients’ families with bereavement support up to 13 months following death, making sure that families have the support that they need

Support Someone Who is Grieving

A brief guide for caregivers to understand the physical and emotional symptoms their loved ones may experience at the end of life. Appropriate comfort measures are also suggested in this guide.

There is No Right or Wrong Way to Grieve After a Loss

This brochure describes how people react to and experience grief.

Grief Resources for Children

When a Child Dies

This brochure describes the things you can do to support the child’s family.

Helping Children Cope with the Death of a Loved One

This brochure describes some simple steps you can do to help a child in this very difficult time.

Grief Resources

Caregiver’s Guide

This brochure describes how to help someone during the stressful time of grieving for a loved one.

Hard Choices for Loving People

This booklet is written to provide guidance to patients and their families who must face the “hard choices” as they receive and participate in healthcare. The “hard choices” are found in four questions that require treatment decisions: 1) Should resuscitation be attempted? 2) Should artificial nutrition and hydration be utilized? 3) Should a nursing home resident or someone ill at home be hospitalized? and 4) Is it time to shift the treatment goal from cure to comfort care only?

Handbook for Mortals (online version)

This online edition includes the full text of the Handbook for Mortals by Joanne Lynn, M.D. and Joan Harrold, M.D., an authoritative consumer guide to end-of-life care.

Anticipatory Grief

Anticipatory grief refers to the grief experienced when a death is expected. It usually begins with the news of a terminal diagnosis and involves the acknowledgment that the death of a loved one is approaching. This can be extremely painful and difficult to endure. This type of grief is distinct because it is experienced while your loved one is still living. This article describes what to expect and how to address anticipatory grief.

If your loved one was a patient, click here for our bereavement resources.

Planning Ahead

Five Wishes

Five Wishes is a document that combines a living will, which is one form of advance directive, with a document that authorizes a specific type of power of attorney or health care proxy in which someone is appointed to make decisions on their behalf when they are incapacitated. It is often encouraged that people complete the Five Wishes document to provide the most comprehensive guidance regarding their care. A sample document can be found here and you can visit the online tutorial here.

Caregiver Guide

The onset of a serious illness can affect much more than a person’s health. Knowing what steps to take to get your financial and legal affairs in order is often vitally important not only to you, but to your loved ones. This guide provides you information on several steps to consider, if you or your loved one faces serious illness.

Tennessee Advance Directives

The State of Tennessee offers numerous helpful advance directive forms which are legal documents allowing individuals to convey decisions about end-of-life care well ahead of need, communicating desires to family, friends and health care professionals and avoiding the potential for future confusion. Included on the state site are:

• Advance Directive
• Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST)
• Declaration for Mental Health Treatment