SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--End Well, the leading nonprofit transforming the end of life into a human-centered experience, today announced Take 10, a global call to action to gather together to reflect on living well through to the end. End Well’s annual event will, for the first time, be virtual and free for all, inspiring diverse professions and populations to share stories and offer solutions as one community within this redefining experience.
The global pandemic and barrage of ongoing natural disasters has fiercely exposed the sheer enormity and emotional weight surrounding end of life subjects. Take 10 is the most thought-provoking event impacting humanity in light of this challenging year. The online experience addresses the cultural taboos around end of life and the unnecessary family friction, discomfort and guesswork that results from avoiding early, honest and compassionate conversations.
End Well’s Digital Transformation
End Well was founded by Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider in 2017 with the mission to educate and expand thinking around decision making, palliative and end-of-life care. Creating a tectonic shift of this nature has opened up unique opportunities to bring the public and private sectors together to more deeply understand the opportunities that exist where ending well becomes a measure of living well. The pinnacle of these efforts every year is the End Well Symposium, which attracts over seven hundred engaged participants from C-suite healthcare executives to emerging designers determined to create products that elevate the human experience. The opportunity to go virtual is a catalyst for a reset that will allow for a larger impact on the world stage. The goal is to give everyone a seat at the table on human issues and the social determinants of health and well-being within systematically flawed systems.
Coming Together Even When We Are Apart
Take 10 brings together the most diverse voices across a multi-disciplinary community that includes patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, technology, the arts, policy, media, faith communities and education alongside celebrities who will talk openly about their own intimate experiences. Emcee Soledad O'Brien will introduce a series of urgent, poignant discussions shared by speakers including: Justin Baldoni, Andy Cohen, Taraji P. Henson, Larry King, Mike Phillips, Carl Reiner Estate, Maria Shriver, and Blair Underwood.
“The possibility of a good ending begins with a simple but profound question: what do I value most for the time that’s left to me?” says End Well’s founder, Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider. “By creating a day for everyone to Take 10 to reflect on their goals and values, we believe we can make a significant shift in our culture’s relationship to dying, loss and grief.”
Unprecedented Focus on Finding Solace, Solidarity and Solutions
Committed to equity and access, Take 10 is working to amplify critical issues and work being done to transform perception, policy and care in ways that support individual goals and values at the end of life. Take 10 is not just a theme, it's the hallmark of our mission this year. We all need to come together to face the complicated and beautiful aspects of life; to learn from others and to share our stories.
- Hear the heartening stories of personal experiences intensified by the COVID-19 crisis including mental health issues, loss, grief, and joy, and destigmatizing what we are afraid to talk about.
- Listen to the voices of underserved caregivers and underrepresented people on the end of life, bereavement, and trauma.
- Meet the people addressing real problems with real solutions, changing the world.
Join the #Take10 movement. December 10th, take 10 minutes to reflect on your life; then start a critical conversation about an end that matches its beauty.
The program is being realized in partnership with USC’s Hollywood Health and Society, The Elizabeth Dole Foundation, OptionB, Teen Cancer America, and the Motion Picture and Television Fund.
ABOUT END WELL
End Well is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to the belief that all people should experience the end of life in a way that matches their values and goals. When faced with issues of mortality, people often suffer needlessly for a variety of reasons, from cultural and clinical, to matters of access. End Well brings together a multidisciplinary community that unites design, technology, health, policy and activist initiative to create a cultural shift to transform our thinking around the end of life. For more information visit www.endwellproject.org, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
