Pop quiz! Which is more frightening?
- Death
- Talking about death with your mother or daughter
Chances are you’ve thought about death. And that someone close to you has, too. Chances are also pretty high that you haven’t spoken about it with each other.
Death is seen as a taboo topic. Sure, it’s uncomfortable to start the conversation. But once it starts, everybody has something to say.
The facade of death as taboo is thin, yet it prevents us from talking about it. It prevents us from learning about it. And it prevents us from fully exercising the rights and choices that go along with being a consumer in the experience.
The potential impact is huge, and change is sorely needed. Government is realising that advanced care directives, informant paperwork, and other admin can be user-centred. The recently-announced Royal Commission into Aged Care shows the need for research, advocacy and innovation.
Over the last 13 months, this unexplored and neglected area of discovery has been Portable’s frontier of R&D work. We’ve spoken about death and ageing with more than 200 people through dinners, surveys and in-depth conversations.
On 22 November 2018 we’ll reveal all: the findings from our research, and a series of products that attendees will interact with. This event will be the only chance to see some of these prototypes. If you came to one of our 'death drinks' events, you'll see what we've been working on since then. If you didn't, this is a great chance to see a showcase of what's happening, whether you work in a death or ageing industry or not.
Raise a glass. Refresh your spirits.
Get hands-on with interactive prototypes
After: be guided, step-by-step, when someone has died
Would your partner know what to do if you died? What’s the the first thing? Should they call 000 or a funeral director? Could you be sure they’ll be in the right frame of mind to know to do either? That’s a lot of questions — but the tactical, practical reality contains way more. After is a mobile app that guides partners (or children, or next of kin) on the things that need to be done in the first minutes, days and weeks after someone dies. And, importantly, make sure they take care of themselves, too.
Endly: connect with a death doula
Many people prepare and seek support creating a birth plan. But what about a death plan? Much like birth doulas, death doulas guide you through your final days. Death doulas are burgeoning a profession but do people know they exist or what they can help with? Endly is a digital platform designed to connect you during your final passage with carers and specialised death doulas. Matches are based on common interests, location and specialties. Once matched, the two can connect and plan to meet bringing the conversation face to face.
Yours Truly: give agency at the end by making wishes clear
Too few people consider the need to make their wishes clear if they are suddenly not able to. Advance care plans are infrequently used, and they are often not communicated to doctors and loved ones so that they can be executed. Yours Truly aims to solve this problem by bringing advance care plans in to the digital age. Yours Truly allows anyone to easily create an advance care plan and share it with their family and doctors, and allows plans to be easily cancelled or modified.
Endguide: have powerful and practical conversations with loved ones
If someone close to you was facing death, would you know their wishes? Endguide bridges this gap by bringing agency to the ageing or terminally ill through a virtual deck of cards containing clear, simple instructions and activities that enable conversations with loved ones, and remain as a record of the answers to be passed on to loved ones, so that everyone is on the same page.
LYMBO: reflect on your own ideal end-of-life experience
Imagine you’ve died — but you were smart and signed up to our virtual afterlife service. When you signed up to LYMBO™, you agreed to have your consciousness uploaded. For technical reasons, this occurred several days before you died. As such, you don’t have any memory of the conditions surrounding your death. To ensure a smooth transition to the virtual afterlife, we’re going to ask you some questions. Imagine your perfect death and create new memories of your passing.
Download Portable's free report 'The Future of Death and Ageing'
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