Quality information is essential for you and your loved ones.  

California Hospice and Palliative Care Association mission is to ensure that you and your loved ones are prepared and informed about choices that come with serious illness, end-of-life care, palliative care and grief support after a loss.

Not having access to quality information means not being able to make informed choices on an approach to care and support for you and your loved ones at one of the most challenging and vulnerable times in your or a loved one's life.

California Hospice and Palliative Care Association library of booklets are available only to the general public. A $10.00 suggested donation for each booklet will ensure California Hospice and Palliative Care Association will continue providing resources that are so desperately needed by Californians.

Please call 916-925-3770 if you have any questions. We are here to help.

To order, you can click on the Order Form or call CHAPCA to order over the phone.

Featuring the latest booklets:

Managing Shortness of Breath - A Guide for Patients and Caregivers - This booklet supports patients who struggle with shortness of breath and their caregivers. It describes the symptoms of this challenging medical condition, gives patients ways to cope, and explains treatments.

Families and caregivers are given practical tips on how to support the patient. The booklet also includes tools to help patients or caregivers communicate with the care team about symptoms, breathing history, and more

Order Form

Managing Your Pain - A Guide to Pain Medication Use - This booklet explains medication use for pain management to patients and caregivers. The booklet covers common questions about opioid use and side effects. Includes a practical pain assessment section for patients to fill out and share with the care team.

Order Form

Talking to Kids About Death - A Guide For Grownups - This booklet helps readers talk to kids about death, whether they are a parent or any adult who knows a child facing loss. The information can apply to an expected loss or a death that has already occurred.

 Order Form

---

Order Form

Living with Dementia: A Caregiver Guide to Memory Care supports caregivers of dementia patients, giving advice specific to the needs of people with dementia and insights into the challenges of caring for them. Sections include “Symptoms and Stages,” “Difficult Behaviors,” “Palliative Care and Pain Management,” and more.

Order Form

Hard Choices About CPR: A Guide for Patients and Families discusses cardiopulmonary resuscitation and its use in seriously ill patients. Adapted with permission from Hard Choices for Loving People, it provides practical advice for those considering CPR use for themselves or someone they know.

Order Form

Caregiver Confidence: A Guide to Caregiving at Home boosts caregiver knowledge for families of patients needing care at home. The booklet reviews safety, common procedures for activities of daily living, creating comfort for the patient, and caring for the caregiver.

Order Form

Facing Hard Choices: A Guide to Artificial Nutrition and Hydration explains artificial nutrition and hydration and discusses its use for seriously ill patients. Adapted with permission from Hard Choices for Loving People, the booklet supports those facing difficult decisions surrounding ANH near the end of life.

Order Form

Hospice Can Help: A Hospice Care Guide educates readers about hospice care—when it’s time for hospice, who can refer a patient to hospice, what hospice will do, and much more. The short booklet improves community education and outreach by answering the question, “What is hospice?”

Order Form

What Is Private Duty Home Care?: A Guide to Non-Medical Care at Home educates readers about personal care services—who can receive services, who pays for care, the difference between personal care services and skilled home health care, and more.

Order Form

What Is Palliative Care?: Improving Your Quality of Life defines palliative care by describing who provides services, which patients are eligible, how palliative care works, and more. An ideal tool to educate your community about the benefits of palliative care for any patient in need of symptom management.

Order Form

Home Health Care Can Help: A Guide to Medical Care at Home answers the question, “What is home health care?” and educates patients about skilled home healthcare services— who can receive services, who pays for care, and the difference between skilled home health care and private duty services.

Order Form

What Do We Do Now?: When a Child Is Seriously Ill answers difficult questions for families of seriously ill children, gently helping parents accompany their children through serious illness with love and reassurance. Includes “What You Can Do” bullet points.

Order Form

Heart-Shaped Pickles: Gentle Grief Support for Kids and Grownups is a true story about little Jenny’s continued connection to her grandpas through her discovery of heart shapes all around her. Invites kids to color, encouraging creativity. Includes a discussion guide and “8 Things Kids Can Teach Grownups About Grief.”

Order Form

Seasons of Grieving: A Guide to Grief at the Holidays validates that holidays can be particularly difficult for those who have lost a loved one. This booklet provides helpful coping strategies for special occasions, with sections devoted to winter holidays, other major holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries.

Order Form

Grieving for Your Pet: A Guide to Understanding Pet Loss gently yet clearly explains the often disenfranchised grief process for those who have lost a pet, helping them understand their grief, find comfort, and move forward with hope. An affordable resource for pet hospice programs and veterinarians.

Order Form

Order Form

When You Are Grieving: A Guide to Understanding Loss helps the bereaved understand grief, find comfort, and move forward with hope. Sections include “Emotional Effects of Grief,” “Remembering Your Loved One,” “Grieving Children and Teens,” and more. Each section has practical “What You Can Do” bullet points.

Order Form

When Teens Are Grieving: A Teen-to-Teen Guide to Understanding Loss this booklet shares teen author Jenny’s grief story, validating that teens have the right to grieve in their own ways. Grief counselors provide professional insights throughout. Based on the award-winning book, Weird Is Normal When Teenagers Grieve.

Order Form