Ruth Gearhiser only began thinking seriously about her age in recent months. 鈥淎lthough chronologically I am 鈥榦ld,鈥� I have never considered myself as such,鈥� says Gearhiser, 73.
COVID-19 changed her outlook.
鈥淚 was either reading the news on my phone or listening to something on TV,鈥� Gearhiser says, 鈥渂ut for some reason, it finally dawned on me that at my age - and who knows the duration of the pandemic - I might not make it through this.鈥�
So Gearhiser went online and downloaded a living will form. She thought about how to spend her 鈥渓ast days and minutes.鈥� With everything in order, she told her children which cabinet drawer held the death-related documents.
Gearhiser says reminding her children of the documents still elicits a sigh and a 鈥測es, Mother,鈥� but she hopes it will ease the burden of her passing in the future.
End-of-life planning isn鈥檛 solely a matter of deciding who gets the vintage purse or baseball card collection. While a will dictates where assets go after death, a "living will" looks at the process of death - how one dies. There鈥檚 also Health Care Power of Attorney (POA), a legal document that gives a specified individual the ability to make decisions about medical care on someone鈥檚 behalf.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has already killed over 4,000 people in Ohio, has pushed many more residents to think about death and what happens after.
is a free online platform with resources for people navigating the legal questions of mortality. Materials on the site help clients think through health care, funerals, and financial and legal concerns. There鈥檚 even advice for how to handle one鈥檚 鈥渄igital legacy.鈥�
Suelin Chen, co-founder and CEO of Cake, has noticed an uptick in users across the nation since the start of the pandemic. According to Cake's internal data, Ohio now has over taking advantage of the online end-of-life planning services, compared to before the pandemic.
鈥淔or Ohio, we have seen an increase in traffic from about 5,000 people in February to 22,000 people in July,鈥� Chen says.
While Chen is quick to note Cake has slowly been acquiring new users throughout the past year, she admits the pandemic actually makes a lot of these conversations easier to have.
鈥淓nd-of-life planning is on everybody鈥檚 to-do list, but it doesn鈥檛 always feel urgent or like the top thing you want to tackle this weekend,鈥� Chen says. 鈥淣ow a lot of people are like, 鈥業 always wanted to get this done and we鈥檙e living through a pandemic - so maybe I should get this done now.鈥欌€�
Chen adds that the increase in users isn鈥檛 the result of more septuagenarians like Gearhiser using the service - they鈥檙e actually seeing more younger users joining up.
鈥淎lthough we have users aged 18-98, about a third of our audience is 25-34 years old,鈥� Chen states.
Myrriah Clarke is in her early 30s, and says she and her husband recently wrote a will and POA in light of the pandemic using the online site . Clarke is immunocompromised and her husband is a nurse at a local Columbus hospital.
Clarke says that while COVID-19 and a recent house purchase spurred them to plan for the future, the idea of death itself wasn鈥檛 new.
鈥淚 remember being in middle school when 9/11 happened,鈥� Clarke says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had the issues in the Middle East and a recession, and now we have a pandemic. I think that a lot of millennials have an ability to look at the finality of life and not run away from it.鈥�
Clarke sees millennials and Generation Z as two age groups exposed to political and economic uncertainty.
鈥淚 mean, look how many millennials are completely drowning in student debt,鈥� she says. 鈥淢ost of us don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 going to get better, so let鈥檚 just prepare for the end.鈥�
Westerville native Mary Beth Ray is currently deployed in Japan working as a family physician for the U.S. Navy. She is in her early 30s, and says she and her husband decided to write their wills recently.
鈥淚 have never been truly frightened of passing away,鈥� Ray says. 鈥淏eing around people who die and are sick, it鈥檚 natural.鈥� But having seen some difficult deaths, Ray says 鈥渋t鈥檚 hard when you鈥檙e unprepared, so I wanted to be prepared.鈥�
, an online portal for legal help, found in a forthcoming report that around 70% of people ages 18-34 don鈥檛 have a living will, compared to 62% of individuals overall without an end-of-life plan.
These stats may change soon: The study also found COVID-19 is the main reason that 52% of people aged 18-34 recently decided to pen their wills.
鈥淭ypically, the number one and two reasons people get a will is because they鈥檙e getting married or having children,鈥� says Chas Rampenthal, an attorney at LegalZoom.
Rampenthal also says a boom of will creation in response to major events and catastrophes is nothing new. He鈥檚 been with LegalZoom since 2003 and remembers specifically the impact of Hurricane Katrina and even celebrity deaths on users.
鈥淲henever the public is more aware of a celebrity passing without a will, we鈥檝e seen the number of wills rise,鈥� Rampenthal says. 鈥淲e can go back and see upticks where [natural events] make people think, 鈥楾hat was a close one for me.鈥欌€�
At The Ohio State University, the office of is a non-profit office providing legal advice, counsel, and resources to Ohio State students. Among the services they offer are simple estate planning, advance directives and the power of attorney.
Molly Hegarty, managing director of Student Legal Affairs, says their office is seeing many of the same trends as the online services, with the number of appointments increasing over 150% from this time last year.
鈥淐urrently, we鈥檝e seen a sharp increase in requests for Health Care Power of Attorney from incoming freshmen,鈥� Hegarty says.
The Franklin County Recorder鈥檚 Office also provides access to living will documents and will house the documents for those who need a safe space, free of charge. Nelson Devezin, director of community outreach at the office, says the stream of requests has still been steady - despite their physical offices being closed for the majority of the pandemic.
They鈥檙e continuing their efforts to reach veterans, houseless communities, and others who may need other recording services, such as birth certificates and veteran ID cards, .
Breann Smith is a case manager who works with HIV-positive clients. Talking about living wills was part of her work, and is what helped inspired her to create her own two years ago, even though she鈥檚 still under 30. She says it鈥檚 something that鈥檚 much easier to do when you鈥檙e healthy.
鈥淚f you put it off one day too many, it could be too late,鈥� Smith says. 鈥淚 think everyone should do it when they turn 18.鈥�
For many, writing a will is a way to exert some power over the uncertainty of the pandemic.
鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 because I鈥檓 a control freak, and I think I鈥檇 like to control a little bit of this,鈥� Gearhiser says.
