Trusted, Legally Sound, Affordable.

Inspired by Mother Teresa’s example of respecting the human dignity of every person, Aging with Dignity Founder Jim Towey founded Aging with Dignity in 1996, and a year later created Five Wishes to help people receive the care they want during times of serious illness. “If it can help a few people, it will be worth it,” he thought. Nearly 30 years later, Five Wishes has helped more than a few people…

The idea for Five Wishes was simple. Provide a resource in easy language that has legal and medical validity. We wanted to make it easy for people to name the person they trust to be their decision maker in a health crisis, to give guidance on the types of life support treatment they want or don’t want, and to convey what makes them feel comfortable and how they want to be remembered.
These pieces of information provide the foundation for person-centered care that affirms basic, universal dignity. While our modern system of care can feel impersonal – leaving people to feel unknown, unloved, or uncared for – Five Wishes reveals what is most important to each unique individual. With a focus on care, comfort, and pain management, Five Wishes also helps to avoid unnecessary second-guessing or disagreements among families when important decisions are left to chance.

Today, more than 43 million copies of Five Wishes, in 33 languages, are in circulation around the world. It was created with legal consultation by the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging, and the guidance of top palliative care experts. There has never been an instance where a person’s validly completed Five Wishes was not honored. It is credible and respected in the medical, legal, and policy communities.

Initial funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Health Foundation of South Florida, and United Health Foundation helped us launch. Today, Five Wishes is supported by individual and corporate contributions, along with the small fees we charge for products and services. We are proud to say that we have not raised the $5 price of a single Five Wishes even once. And, because of generous donor support, it’s always available to those who don’t have the ability to pay even a small amount.

While popular with individuals and families, the Five Wishes approach is also the preferred advance care planning program of many healthcare providers, including physicians, hospitals, healthcare payers and plans, and health systems. It’s been used by Johns Hopkins Healthcare, Humana, Mount Sinai Health System, Molina, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, and thousands of others.

Five Wishes leaders influence policy development, advocacy, and public education. The experience of Five Wishes has been featured in testimonies before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, state legislative committees and advisory boards, and numerous professional conferences. Five Wishes continues to shape how America approaches advance care planning through appearances in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, and on CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and Fox News.

The Five Wishes program has grown to include support resources for families, healthcare providers, businesses, employers, churches, and community organizations. Employers of all sizes are following the example of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) by providing Five Wishes to employees and their families. Pediatric resources, developed through research at the National Institutes of Health, are available for young children and adolescents. Training modules that include continuing education credits are available for Five Wishes Presenters and Facilitators.

Communities of various cultural and religious traditions appreciate that Five Wishes allows them to include their values and beliefs in the advance care planning process. The new Finishing Life Faithfully: A Guide For Catholics on End-of-Life Care is supported by Church leaders and helpful for families and parishes. Still, after all these decades, the heart and soul of Five Wishes is aimed at revealing what good care looks like to you and the people who matter most to you.Our committed team is here to assist, whether that includes ordering Five Wishes for your family, customizing Five Wishes back covers with your organization’s brand, answering questions, or brainstorming how to best serve the people around you. Reach out to us!