Gathering family and friends to have end of life discussions is not easy. What is a natural expectation of life does not mean we are prepared to talk or even think about how we want to end life. Defining “quality of life” is an intensely personal thing and one even our closest family members may not know. Kathy Kastner is a lay-person in the healthcare field who began blogging about the many questions surrounding dying at her website, bestendings.com. She provides resources, thoughtful blogs and curated information about EOL issues. A highly regarded speaker and though leader on EOL, Kathy has presented at Stanford MedX  and just joined a health technology company as a social media strategist and advisor on technology products for seniors. Listen to our conversation of drop in at the time stamps below.

00:00 Introduction
00:45 Meet Kathy Kastner of BestEndings.com
01:40 How did you start talking about end of life?
03:20 Starting a blog
05:04 Terminology
08:33 Starting a conversation about death
12:44 Who should be talking about death?
21:31 Stanford MedicineX
24:24 Technologies for Aging Gracefully
24:45 Seniors and Communication Technology
27:56 Tech creators and Senior Tech Users
31:10 Healthcare Hackathon for caregivers of patients with dementia
35:15 Social Media Tip: Cynthia Manley “What’s the biggest need that can be solved by a mobile health app?”

• Technologies for Aging Gracefully Lab (TAGlab) at University of Toronto
• TEDtalk: Exit Laughing
• Stanford MedicineX ePatient
• Blogging for Mayo Clinic
• New Reality of Health Literacy

Visit our resources page for more valuable (and free!) resources on social media and digital health.