(Lamar Hankins is an associate exit guide, volunteer speaker for Final Exit Network, and co-founder of The Good Death Society Blog.)
Final Exit Network’s blog has had over 105,000 views since its inception. A look back at its purpose may explain its success. In late Spring 2017, Gary Wederspahn proposed to me the idea of doing a blog for Final Exit Network (FEN). I had been blogging for several years, mostly on social issues, religion, and politics, and writing weekly for online publications, as well as a few newspapers and magazines. After some discussion, I set up the blog with the assistance of a website designer. In August 2017, the FEN Blog began under the title The Good Death Society Blog, suggested by FEN’s Board of Directors.
For three years, I wrote, edited others’ submissions, and moderated the comments for the blog, with editing help from June, my English professor spouse. In addition, I solicited blog posts from others. Of the 133 blog posts during my tenure, I wrote over 100. We tried to cover every issue involved with the Right-to-Die movement. We wanted to share stories of relevance to that movement, including discussing dilemmas faced by those seeking a good death, as well as offer opinions and insight that would stimulate discussion among blog readers.
Since I retired from the blog in 2020, it has been continued successively by Kevin Bradley, Jay Niver, Gary Wederspahn, and Melanie Raine. To date we have had 116 different blog posters (27 of them FEN writers). Writers include prominent leaders of the right-to-die /death-with dignity movement, journalists, end-of-life care professionals, ministers, counselors, lawyers and physicians. Their variety of backgrounds, viewpoints and information contributes much to our goal of positioning The Good Death Society Blog as a trusted and respected public forum.
According to the article The Nine Reasons People Read Blogs, the reasons are that blogs
- are a convenient source of information on particular topics
- provide information not readily found in traditional media
- allow people to enjoy an affiliation with a group with similar interests
- provide both opinion and explanation for readers
- may create an ambience that joins readers together
- should create both entertainment and enjoyment for readers
- allow for freedom of debate among readers over the issues presented
- provide “a variety of opinion and viewpoints that the mainstream and traditional media could never offer”
- are read to find information on specific topics
While some of these reasons overlap, they provide good reasons for an organization like FEN to offer a blog as a significant part of FEN’s outreach to those who are interested in the issues surrounding the end of life and having a good death.
The FEN Board unanimously approved the launch of FEN’s blog in July 2017, and offered several guidelines:
- It should be managed in a way to prevent online attacks by “trolls” representing our opponents
- It needs to be low cost to establish and maintain
- It should be user-friendly for the blog manager/editor and FEN writer/contributors
- It must conform to FEN’s messaging guidelines
- It should interconnect with our website and Facebook pages
The Good Death Society Blog published its first weekly post in August 2017. It has added to FEN’s services, which originally included
- Support for people in their exploration and decision-making without bias or judgment through our trained coordinators
- Free services to all members who qualify for our exit guide support program, which includes relevant information, home visits and a compassionate presence for self-deliverance for members and their families
- Advocacy for our members’ right to self-deliverance
- Rigorous training for all associate and senior guides
Since 2017, FEN has been offering support for an advance directive for use by people with dementia and help with finding surrogates who can speak for those who have lost the capacity to make their views about end-of-life issues known and honored. Both of these advances have been covered by the blog, as will newer services as they develop.
FEN’s blog has helped fulfill FEN’s mission “To educate our members in understanding their options for self-deliverance with dignity when they face intolerable suffering and to give them compassionate support and practical advice at the end of their lives.” We hope that it will continue to do so as we head toward 200,000 views and beyond.
Final Exit Network (FEN) is a network of dedicated professionals and caring, trained volunteers
who support mentally competent adults as they navigate their end-of-life journey.
Established in 2004, FEN seeks to educate qualified individuals in practical,
peaceful ways to end their lives, offer a compassionate bedside presence and defend
a person’s right to choose. For more information, go to www.finalexitnetwork.org.
Payments and donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
Final Exit Network is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Many thanks, Lamar, for investing so much time and energy in establishing our blog. It’s been very helpful to many people.
Thank you, Lamar, for co-founding the Good Death Society Blog and all that you have contributed to the Blog and FEN over the years.
Thank you for your leadership, Lamar, and for those three years that you and your wife invested in launching and nurturing the blog. As to the blog’s future, I would be interested in seeing some more challenging material on occasion, as well as more debate. Many of the stories repeat similar themes and there is a tendency to “preach to the choir.” The soup is better when it is kept stirred.
While not seeking to provoke controversy, we DO welcome differing opinions and viewpoints. As our welcome page puts it: “The blog’s purpose is to discuss a wide range of right-to-die issues, from legislation to advance directives to other countries’ approach to the right to die and anything else deemed relevant to end-of-life freedom. “
Some posts are more interesting than others, but for my part, I rarely find much to disagree with. Hence, we ARE probably preaching mostly to the choir. How I wonder, can we find a wider audience?