A unique opportunity to get comfortable with death is coming to the South Shore.The End of Life Expo being held in Bridgewater this weekend will feature exhibitors and seminars on a range of subjects from dealing with grief to estate planning and green burials.

The Expo is being presented by the South Shore Hospice Palliative Care Society. Chair of the Education Committee for the Society Shelley Mann says planning for end of life is one of the most important things people can do for themselves and their loved ones.

“If you make some plans for end of life or at least if your family or people close to know what your values and your beliefs are. That helps make decisions and it helps the person whether they've been faced with a diagnosis or not,” said Mann.

“But it helps them know that you know my family knows what I want and it also, if someone does have a terminal diagnosis and they've died, it helps their family too, move forward with their grief and knowing that they did what that person wanted, the person that they loved.”

The End of Life Expo was originally planned for 2020 but like so many other things was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of the Hospice Palliative Care Society’s mission is to educate, and the Society has organized three talks throughout the afternoon.

The first answers what is palliative care, the second talks about anticipatory grief and the third explains death doulas.

While the three organized talks are waitlisted, the expo offers much more to learn from a multitude of exhibitors.

Mann hopes offering the opportunity to learn more about the process leading up to and following end of life will help people become more comfortable talking about something we all eventually face.

“It’s the thing that affects absolutely every single one of us whether it's someone close to us or we face it ourselves so yeah we encourage everyone.”

The End of Life Expo runs from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, April 1 at the Bridgewater Baptist Church on Glen Allen Drive.

For more information, click here to be directed to the End of Life Expo Facebook page.

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