5 Needs:  Serving to Households All over the place Since 1998

November 4, 2022, By Jim Towey

This month begins the twenty fifth anniversary celebration of 5 Needs.  Who might have imagined again within the fall of 1998 when Eunice Kennedy Shriver joined me on the Nationwide Press Membership in Washington, DC for the press convention saying its nationwide launch, or when the next NBC-TV “At present Present” phase gave 5 Needs nationwide prominence, all the good issues which have occurred since.  Over 41 million copies have been bought or distributed in the USA and overseas, and it’s now obtainable in 30 languages by way of our community of over 50,000 accomplice organizations.

It’s not the widespread recognition of 5 Needs that makes me proud as a lot because the distinction it’s making within the lives of the hundreds of thousands of People who’ve turned to Growing older with Dignity for advance care planning assist.  They belief us to assist them plan for and talk about how they need to be handled throughout instances of significant sickness.  By making that dialogue embody the non secular, private and emotional dimension in order that dying shouldn’t be handled as merely a medical second, we efficiently broadened the topic to focus consideration the place it must be – on defending and preserving God-given human dignity.  The truth that at this time 5 Needs meets the statutory necessities of almost all 50 states (after we started, it was solely 33) offers authorized assurance to households that the desires of their family members will likely be revered and adopted.

In 25 years, not one penny extra

And right here is the astonishing reality: within the 25 years since we launched 5 Needs, we’ve got not raised its worth by one penny.  I repeat, a single copy of 5 Needs nonetheless prices $5, simply because it did after we started, which was when Invoice Clinton was president; the band U2 launched “Sweetest Factor,” Lauryn Hill sang “Doo Wop (That Factor)”; and moviegoers have been crying of their popcorn watching the yr’s finest image, “Titanic.”

Twenty-five years in the past, a dozen eggs price $1.06; now they price $2.90 – a 174% improve – and the worth goes up quick.  You might get a first-class U.S. postage stamp 25 years in the past for 32 cents.  Now you need to shell out greater than double that, 60 cents.  And 25 years in the past, a gallon of gasoline price a mean of $1.66.  At present, it’s $3.76 and climbing.

However at Growing older with Dignity, the extra issues change, the extra our worth stays the identical. 5 Needs nonetheless prices a greenback a want!  And when you order 25 copies, you pay a greenback a duplicate, a discount worth that, too, has not modified.

Positive, we might have raised our costs at numerous instances, together with now with inflation hovering, however we didn’t.  We need to assist as many people and households as we will.  And due to the generosity of our donors and loyalty of our 1000’s of organizational clients, we will proceed to function our non-profit with out elevating the worth of a duplicate of 5 Needs.

Completely satisfied clients, higher lives

Whereas costs have remained flat, the enjoyment of our clients has soared.  I like the mail, e mail and cellphone calls we get at our headquarters in Tallahassee.  So many testimonials pour in and I can’t publish all of them.  However listed below are two that I like:

“As a nurse, I selected to make use of 5 Needs as my instruction doc for my household.  They’ll perceive and relate to the content material…Thanks in your work.  All of us have to age with dignity, it doesn’t matter what age we full in our earthly journey.”  – Joyce Eden, Clovis, CA.

“[M]y sister is in hospice and I’m her medical [power of attorney] and advocate.  I’ve referenced her 5 Needs and have allowed others to learn her 5 Needs to offer them peace and luxury as their beloved one is going through imminent dying.  This couldn’t have come at a greater time for me and my household.” – Theresa M. Barnard, Tulsa, OK

You may be listening to a superb many tales like these as we rejoice this silver jubilee yr and the way 5 Needs has modified how People do advance care planning. Because the well being care decision-making course of turns into more and more much less private and extra difficult, 5 Needs will likely be wanted greater than ever.  Sufferers have the precise to resolve the type of medical remedy they need or don’t need, how comfy they need to be, how they need to be handled, and what they need their family members to know.

Households throughout America will quickly be gathering for the Thanksgiving vacation, which makes it a superb time to have vital household discussions, utilizing 5 Needs as a information.  That turkey you’ll get pleasure from will definitely price greater than it did 25 years in the past, however not 5 Needs.  It’s the identical worth on the identical worth.  Who else in America could make that declare?

(Growing older with Dignity is providing a particular vacation Gathering Package, which incorporates 15 copies of 5 Needs; two copies of the Dialog Information for People and Households; entry to a video on finishing your 5 Needs; and 5 of our well-known 5 Needs pens.  The Gathering Package is $50, which is 50% off the price of these objects if bought individually.  And share your 5 Needs story with us!)