CareGoals Start

A quiet fifteen-card conversation

If you couldn’t speak for yourself, what would you want?

Any adult is one unexpected day away from someone else deciding — a fall, a crash, a diagnosis. Write down who speaks for you, the care you’d want, and what matters most, one card at a time, tapping your answers.

Start How it works ↓

No account. Kept only on your device. Do it with the person who would speak for you, for yourself or someone you love. About 20 minutes, and it saves as you go.

  • Nothing to buyno tiers, no upgrades
  • No accountno sign-in
  • On your devicenot sent to us
  • About 20 minsaves as you go

Care Wishes · personal values document

Care wishes, in their words.

Who I am

Who speaks for me when I can’t

My treatment preference

CPR

What I want my family to hear

A sample card · try it

What matters most to you?

Tap as many as are true.

This one is only a preview. Nothing you tap here is saved or sent.Begin the real cards

In 15 seconds

See how it works before you start.

Five short beats, drawn in code. Sound is off until you turn it on.

Text version:
  1. Who would speak for you? Any adult is one unexpected day away from someone else deciding.
  2. Fifteen cards. You tap, not type. Sit with the person who would speak for you.
  3. Kept on your device. Nothing is sent to us. Stop and come back any time.
  4. Share it before it is needed. It travels inside a link. No account to open it.
  5. CareGoals. Say what matters, before it is needed. caregoals.com

How it works

Decide it now, so no one has to guess later.

No one wants to talk about this. It goes better on an ordinary day, long before anyone needs it.

  1. Step 1

    Decide

    Sit with the person who would speak for you. One card at a time, you tap your answer and talk it over. On the treatment and CPR cards, they guess first, then you answer. Nothing to type. The first answer takes a few minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Keep it

    Your answers save on this device as you go, and they are not sent to us. Stop whenever you like and come back to finish.

  3. Step 3

    Put it in your ComfortCard

    One tap on your Care Wishes page copies them into your ComfortCard family file, beside the insurance cards and care letters. It stays on your device, with no account.

  4. Step 4

    Share it with someone you love

    Send it to the person who speaks for you and anyone who’d be in the room. The document travels inside the link, so they don’t need an account to open it.

Once it’s written down, the people you love can act on it. Start

The output

What you’ll walk away with

A real document. One your family and care team can actually use. This sample shows the shape — yours will be in your own words.

Care Wishes

Care wishes, in their words.

A sample, built from answers on the cards

Example

Who I am

Being at home · Not being in pain · Having my family near

My treatment preference

Focus on comfort, not on living longer

CPR

Only if there’s a real chance

Who speaks for me when I can’t

The person who would speak for you, named on the first card

What calms me

Music · Someone holding my hand · Fresh air or a window

What I want my family to hear

Thank you. · I love you.

Care Wishes
A sample
Speaks for me: the person you name
Treatment: comfort-focused
CPR: only if there’s a real chance
Full document: scan, or caregoals.com

The wallet card — fits behind your ID. On your iPhone →
  • Print it

    One page, in plain words. One for the fridge, one for the folder.

  • Share it

    The document travels inside a link — never stored on our servers. Send it to the person who speaks for you; they should have it before they need it.

  • Carry it

    A wallet card with your proxy and preferences, and a QR code that opens the full document.

The sample uses answers from the cards. Yours is built from your own answers, in your own words.

Start yours — about 20 minutes →

After you finish

Where your wishes go next

A plan only helps if it’s official, and if the right people are holding it. Each of these you can start today.

Make it official
Your state’s own form
Copy your wishes onto your state’s advance directive form and sign it the way your state requires. CaringInfo has the form for every state.
Find your state’s form →
Bring it to your clinician
A covered planning visit
Medicare covers an advance care planning conversation with your own clinician. It costs nothing as part of your yearly wellness visit, as long as your clinician accepts Medicare’s approved amount as full payment; otherwise the usual Part B costs apply. Your finished document prints with a one-page worksheet for the visit.
What Medicare covers →
Paying for care
Does the care count as medical care?
A two-minute check of whether the care you pay for counts as medical care under IRS rules, the test for using HSA or FSA dollars. It tells you plainly when the answer is no.
comfortcard.org →
Help at home
Find the help you qualify for
Many families qualify for public dollars to help care for someone they love and never claim them. co-op.care, a worker-owned care cooperative in Boulder, helps find them.
co-op.care →

Want a person beside you? Find an end-of-life doula. Facing the end now? Start at Quality Death.

On Medicaid, and the new work rules could put your coverage at risk? Keep a dated record of your condition for your state, on your device.

A clinician? See what your patients can bring you.

Questions people ask

Before you begin

What is advance care planning?

Advance care planning is deciding — while you're able — what matters to you in serious illness, what medical treatment you would or wouldn't want, and who you trust to speak for you if you can't. It's the difference between your family guessing under pressure and your family knowing.

Is there anything to buy?

No. There is no account and nothing to buy. Your answers stay on your device.

How long does it take?

The first answer takes a few minutes. All fifteen cards take about 20 minutes, one at a time, and you tap your answers. Skip anything and come back later; your answers are saved in your browser as you go.

Is CareGoals a legal document or an advance directive?

Not by itself. CareGoals gives you a values document in your own words: who speaks for you, the care you'd want, and why. To make it legally official, copy it onto your state's own advance directive form and sign it the way your state requires; CaringInfo has the form for every state. If you're seriously ill, ask your clinician about a POLST, which turns wishes into medical orders. CareGoals provides planning tools, not medical or legal advice.

What is a healthcare proxy, and how do I choose one?

A healthcare proxy is the person authorized to make medical decisions for you when you can't. Choose someone who knows your values, can stay calm in a crisis, and will honor your wishes even if they differ from their own. Without a named proxy, hospitals default to next-of-kin in a legally fixed order — which may not be who you'd choose.

Is there AI in it?

No. The cards run in your browser with no AI, and your answers aren't sent to anyone. If you'd rather talk it through first, a person is best: an end-of-life doula does exactly this work.

Is my information private?

Your answers are saved only in your browser, on your device, and aren't sent to us. The Care Wishes document you share travels inside the link itself — it is not stored on our servers. Nothing is shared unless you print it or send the link.

Can I share it with my family and my doctor?

Yes — that's the point. You can print your Care Wishes document, carry a wallet card with your proxy and preferences, put a copy in your ComfortCard family file with one tap, and send a link to the person who speaks for you, so they have it before they ever need it. The document travels inside the link, and anyone who has the link can read it, so send it only to people you trust.

Start — about 20 minutes →

The essays

Short reads.

Short reads on why this conversation matters — and what happens when a family, or a whole town, actually has it. Start anywhere.

It's not youWhy is this so hard?You keep meaning to and never do. That's not a flaw — the close community that used to answer these questions for you is gone. Here's the why, and the fix.4 min read → If you're youngYou're too young to need thisThis isn't only for the old or the dying. Terri Schiavo was 26. Any adult is one accident away — and doing it young is the least morbid thing you'll do all year.4 min read → Falls & financesBefore the fallMoney isn't a plan. The fall that ends independence starts months earlier — and so does the conversation that softens it.5 min read → Care + money + legacyThe whole house in orderThe kitchen table doesn't care whether the subject is your ventilator or your savings. One conversation can protect both.6 min read → The proof it worksThe La Crosse WayThe Wisconsin town where roughly 96% of people die with their wishes known and honored — because a whole community learned to talk.6 min read → The harder conversationFacing the end of lifeWhen it stops being hypothetical: hospice, comfort, and what a good ending actually asks of the people in the room.5 min read → Contemplating your own deathGo to your own wakeA hard book, the hero’s journey and a way to hear, while you can, what you would want said — with what the research does and doesn’t show.4 min read → If dementia’s in the familyThe dementia directiveIt’s the one illness that takes your voice years before your life — and about 42% of us face it after 55. Say what you’d want, stage by stage, while you still clearly can.4 min read → Found & followedMake sure it’s honoredA directive no one can find at 2am might as well not exist. Where wishes live, who holds them, and how they get followed.4 min read → The bigger pictureThe commonsOne movement, many doors — what it means when the people who need care and the people who give it own the economy between them.3 min read →
Not ready yet? The resource library → On your iPhone