Over 100 people showed up for an open house at the Healdsburg Senior Center this Monday afternoon. The topic was one close to us all, at one time or another: The end of life, with all its physical, emotional and spiritual aspects.
The pilot program, launched with development funding from the Community Foundation Sonoma County and hosted by the City of Healdsburg, is the first of its kind, according to Senior Center Supervisor Anna Grant.
At the end of 2025, the Healdsburg City Council voted to approve When the Time Comes (WTTC), a new program designed to help residents navigate end-of-life planning and support. Taya Levine and Grant made the pitch for a resource center offering free resources on handling questions, concerns and complexities related to the final decisions an individual or a family must make.
“When the Time Comes helps people face death with clarity, plan with care and be supported by others—reclaiming death as a deeply human experience,” said Levine, the program’s co-founder and compassion coordinator.
The program launched with Monday’s open house, and its services are set to begin in May, this week. Those services include several “insight gatherings,” with conversation topics over the course of the month. “Death Curious” is held on second Mondays, “Dying to Talk About It” on third Thursdays, for instance.
Introducing WTTC was a panel that Grant referred to as “our caring compass”—county residents who have been active in senior health and compassion issues for years. As well as Grant and Levine, it included Dr. Gary Johnson, a retired hospice physician; Redwing Keyssar, a registered nurse and palliative care educator; Jeff McGee, a critical incident specialist LMFT employed by the Healdsburg Police Department; Willow Taraja, an end-of-life doula; and Rev. Sally Hubbell, pastor at St. Paul’s Church.
“These are the OGs, like the GOATS of the business, and they live here in Sonoma County,” Grant said.
Attendees also took part in a “dot voting” exercise, placing round stickers on posters that listed potential program topics to show their interest. These ranged from how to get wills, trusts and accounts in order; to how to navigate the medical system; and perspectives on grief and loss.
A sign-up sheet was made available to attendees who wanted to volunteer and share their own experiences and knowledge.
Levine, Grant and a coterie of volunteers will be available to offer resources, answer questions or just talk about the one aspect of life that no one can skip over. The goal is peace of mind, now and when the time comes.
Also inaugurated was the Compassion Corner, a small, warm space where a lending library and other materials are available. It can also serve as a place to meet and talk at any time. Levine will have regular hours, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1-4pm, and others may follow.
The attendance on Monday shows that interest is strong, and WTTC seems successful from the outset. Perhaps that’s because Healdsburg is an ideal place for this resource center—it has the second-oldest population in the county, behind Sebastopol, and Sonoma is the second-oldest county in the state.
Said Grant, “You know the Baby Boomers are all aging in, one in 10,000 people every day through the year 2030. We need to be prepared and have services and systems in place to assist our aging population. That doesn’t just mean that you have a hospital and a clinic or that you offer pickleball instead of tennis.”
Levine, too, shared her thoughts on When the Time Comes: “We want to be here when you need us; people are available to help, to talk and share. We want you to be able to make decisions for yourself, before someone else has to make them for you.”
If the program seems unique for a city government to undertake, it sort of is. “As far as we know, we are the first that has undertaken this under the wing of a municipality, not just outsourcing it,” Grant said.
He added, “Everyone that I’ve talked to about it, whether in professional parks-and-recreation departments or casual friends, they all say, ‘Oh my God, I want this in my city.’”
To learn more, visit whenthetimecomes.org or call the Senior Center at 707.756.6171
