Plan Ahead Resource Directory

stylized illustrations of people and leaves

Learn about your health

811 Health Link | For health advice or if you have a health concern, dial 811 to talk to a health care professional. Health Link is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Find A Doctor | Enter an address, postal code or community to find out which family doctors are accepting new patients in your area.

Questions to Ask Your Healthcare Team | It is important to ask if you don’t understand what your healthcare team is telling you. Here are some questions developed by the Health Quality Council of Alberta to help you.

Questions to Ask About Your Treatment Options | It is important to ask questions if you need to choose between different treatment options. Here are some questions developed by the Health Quality Council of Alberta to help you.

Symptom Tracker | Are you not feeling well? Have you noticed a health change that seems unusual? Write down the answers to the questions in document developed by the Health Quality Council of Alberta and then take them to your next appointment.

Tips for Talking to Your Healthcare Team | Here are some useful tips to consider before, during and after you visit your healthcare team, including doctors, nurses and others, developed by the Health Quality Council of Alberta.

Advance care planning – Alberta Health Services 

Advance Care Planning: Preparing for Your Future Healthcare | A series of webpages that provides additional Alberta-specific information about advance care planning.

Conversations Matter | A guidebook outlining the five steps of advance care planning. Available in multiple languages.

Advance care planning – guides and workbooks

The Letter Project | Developed by the Stanford University School of Medicine, this series of letter-writing templates in multiple languages prompts you to record your care preferences, write letters to your loved ones and create a bucket list of the things you want to do before you die.

Living Well, Planning Well: An Advance Care Planning Resource for Accessing Your Rights | This toolkit developed by Advance Care Planning Canada provides an overview of health care consent, capacity, advance care planning and substitute decision-making across Canada.

Planning for My Care | A workbook created by Canadian Virtual Hospice that focuses on care conversations for LGBTQ2S+ people. It is intended to help you reflect on and start conversations about your health care.

Planning for the Future | A resource about health and financial planning from the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta’s OakNet website.

Plan Well Guide | An online fillable guide for those facing a serious illness, with guidance about specific treatment options. Once you create an account your information is securely stored 24/7.

Speak Up: Advance Care Planning Workbook | An online interactive workbook from Advance Care Planning Canada that has the necessary information to guide you through the steps of creating your individualized plan. Workbooks are downloadable for sharing your plan with others.

Advance care planning – games and conversation starters

ACP Origami Game | Remember the fortune teller game you played at school? The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care has put a spin on this classic by including prompts and information related to medical, legal, and personal aspects of advance care planning to help you plan for the future. Available in English and Chinese.

Cards on Life, Death and Loss | A comprehensive set of cards developed by Paradigm UK to support conversations on life, death and loss. 

Care Planning Cookies | Like fortune cookies, these care planning cookies come with a message inside, each intended to stimulate a conversation about living well and dying well.

Go Wish Game | The Go Wish Game allows you to understand and communicate what's important to you at end of life by sorting cards according to your personal priorities. Available in multiple languages.

Heart to Heart Cards | These bilingual Chinese/English cards created by the Chinese American Coalition for Compassionate Care facilitate conversations about end-of-life preferences in four areas: spiritual, social, financial and physical.

Hello Game | A game designed to prompt conversations with family and friends "about living and dying and what matters most." An Enterprise Edition is available for use with larger groups.

How Well Do You Know Me? Game | A game to test your family and friends’ knowledge. Sit with your loved ones or your substitute decision maker and ask any of the ten questions in this not-so-trivial pursuit of clarifying your wishes and values for your future care.

Personal directives

Being an Agent | A booklet outlining the role and responsibilities of an agent published by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.

Making a Personal Directive | A booklet outlining the steps needed to write a personal directive published by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.

Making a Personal Directive Checklist | A checklist with a useful list of questions to ask when writing a personal directive, produced by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.

Personal Directive | The official Government of Alberta guide to personal directives.

Understanding Personal Directives | A link to a downloadable PDF fact sheet on personal directives produced by the Government of Alberta Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee.

Goals of Care Designation orders

Learn About the Goals of Care Designation Order | A web page that contains more information on Goals of Care Designation orders.

Supported decision-making

Supported Decision-Making | The official Government of Alberta guide to supported decision-making.

Supported Decision-Making Authorization | A resource outlining the procedure for enacting supported decision-making from the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta’s OakNet website.

Organ and tissue donation

Becoming a Donor | A MyHealth Alberta resource on organ and tissue donation, including frequently asked questions. You can also search “organ and tissue donation” on MyHealth.Alberta.ca for more information. 

Enduring power of attorney

Being an Attorney under an Enduring Power of Attorney | A booklet produced by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta outlining the role of an attorney under someone's enduring power of attorney.

Enduring Power of Attorney | An overview from the Government of Alberta on the process of getting, enacting and ending an enduring power of attorney.

Making an Enduring Power of Attorney | A booklet published by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta on writing or changing an enduring power of attorney.

Making an Enduring Power of Attorney Checklist | A checklist from the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta covering important questions to ask when creating or changing an enduring power of attorney.

Wills

Being a Personal Representative | A booklet from the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta on the role of a personal representative named in someone's will.

Beneficiaries: Dying Without a Will | A Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta booklet for people who inherit the estate of a person who dies without a will in Alberta.

Making a Will | A guide from the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta about writing, reviewing or changing a will and administering an estate.

Making a Will Checklist | A checklist outlining important questions to ask yourself when writing or changing a will, produced by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta​.

Wills in Alberta | A guide from the Government of Alberta about writing or changing a will.

Wills in Alberta, Common Terms & Definitions | A Government of Alberta glossary of important legal terms related to wills.

Funeral Planning

Funeral Planning in Alberta | A guide that outlines advance planning of funerals, types of funerals, types of services and further information services published by the Alberta Funeral Services Regulatory Board.

Islamic Funeral Society of Edmonton | An organization that provides high-quality funeral and burial services to Muslims in Edmonton and surrounding areas. More details related to funeral process and costs are on this website. 

Planning Your Own Funeral in Alberta | A booklet that provides information about your options and rights in pre-planning your funeral published by the Centre for Public Legal Education. 

Saying Farewell: A guide to assist you with pre-planning and with the death and dying process | A brochure by the Government of Alberta about funerals, legal requirements, surrounding death, burial, wills, estates, paperwork and financial assistance.

Legal supports for low-income Albertans

Calgary Legal Guidance | CLG is a non-profit pro bono legal organization that provides legal guidance and support to low-to-no-income Albertans.

CLG has an Elder Law Program that can assist with personal directives, wills and estate planning and enduring powers of attorney for elders who have no access to paid legal services. It can be reached at 403-716-6476.

Community Legal Clinic | Provides free legal services to people experiencing barriers, serving Central Alberta (Red Deer and area), Medicine Hat, Lloydminster and Fort McMurray. 

Edmonton Community Legal Centre | ECLC is a non-profit seeking to provide effective advocacy and access to justice in a supportive environment to persons living with low income. It also offers a Grande Prairie Clinic for people living in the Grande Prairie area.

Lethbridge Legal Guidance | Provides free legal assistance, information, and advocacy to individuals in the Lethbridge region experiencing financial difficulties who need legal services and representation and who do not qualify for legal aid.

 

Resources for lawyers

Alberta Wills and Estates Legislation | A quick, easy reference to the essential legislation applicable to a wills and estates practice produced by the Legal Education Society of Alberta.

Alberta Wills and Estates Practice Manual | Comprehensive practice manual on wills and estates law produced by the Legal Education Society of Alberta.

Living Well, Planning Well: An Advance Care Planning Resource for Lawyers | A toolkit for lawyers on advance care planning produced by the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association.

stylized illustration of people

Wondering about palliative care?

Hi, I'm Thandiwe and I recently left home for university. About a month after leaving home my mother got a cancer diagnosis, and while she insisted that I stay and continue my studies, I’m so worried it’s hard to concentrate.

In the conversation the doctor mentioned palliative care. I don't know what that is, but it sounds serious. Is there someplace I can go to better understand what this all means?

Learn About Palliative Care