6th Annual Barbara Swartz Lecture

6th Annual Barbara Swartz Lecture

End of Life Choices New York will host our 6th Annual Barbara Swartz End of Life Choices Lecture on September 30th at 7pm via Zoom. This year, we are thrilled to be joined by the editors of the forthcoming book Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking: A Compassionate, Widely-Available Option for Hastening Death. The editors are Timothy Quill, MD, Thaddeus Pope, JD, PhD, Paul Menzel, PhD, and Judith Schwarz, PhD, RN. They will discuss Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED) and why some decisionally-capable persons chose to hasten their dying with this legal end of life option. The speakers bring a wealth of knowledge and experience, and will discuss the topic from the multi-disciplinary perspectives of medicine, ethics, law, and nursing. Early bird pricing is available until August 31st. All proceeds from this event will go to support our mission.

Click here to register

Click here to pre-order Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking: A Compassionate, Widely Available Option for Hastening Death through Amazon Smile. If you designate End of Life Choices New York as your charity, Amazon Smile will donate a portion of your purchase to End of Life Choices New York. For instructions on how to designate our organization as your charity, please visit Amazon Smile.

Survey of Black New Yorkers

End of Life Choices New York and the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy are conducting research to understand the end of life needs, views, and experiences of Black New Yorkers who served as a caregiver for a loved one at the end of their life. The findings will be used to inform future programs, policies, and resources to better support caregivers and their loved ones during these times.

We have partnered with the National Black Leadership Commission on Health (Black Health) to recruit participants. Please contact us if you know other organizations that may be able to share the survey.

Participation involves completing an anonymous online survey. The survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete, and participants are asked about their experience being a caregiver, their loved one’s medical care at the end of life, and their thoughts on end-of-life topics. You may be eligible if you are Black, live in New York, are between the ages of 25-65, and were a caregiver to a loved one that passed/transitioned within the last 15 years. To participate, please visit endoflifechoicesny.org/survey.

Internship programs

EOLCNY offers a variety of internship opportunities. This summer we partnered with the Hudson Mohawk AHEC to host students from their scholars program. AHEC Scholars is a program for health professions students interested in getting hands-on experience. The program focuses on developing a deeper understanding of the social determinants of health that affect vulnerable populations and underserved communities. The three scholars are students at Russell Sage College pursuing nursing and public health degrees. The scholars did excellent work and helped us develop our new community resource guide that will be available in the late fall. We also have an AHEC scholar with a background in hospice care assisting us with creating our end of life care advocacy certificate program.

Anh Lee, the program coordinator at Hudson Mohawk AHEC, said, “Working with EOLCNY this summer has been an eye-opening experience for the students. Not only did they research an important topic, but they also learned how to translate that knowledge into something the general public can understand. We are proud of the work the students did with EOLCNY, and we look forward to collaborating again in the future.”

We also partnered with the Harlem Children Zone Center for Higher Education and Career Support for the second year. The Center helps youth from Harlem successfully prepare for college, persist through college graduation, enter the workforce, and become productive, self-sufficient adults. We currently have a research intern who is a nursing student attending Howard University.
Click here to see our current internship opportunities.

End of Life Choices New York seeks to expand choice at the end of life, respecting every individual’s wishes, and striving for the best possible quality of life and a peaceful death. We depend on your support to do this work. If you are able to help, please click Donate to make a tax-deductible contribution. 

Join our Community Group

The EOLCNY Community Group is a collective of individuals who are interested in sharing their thoughts, experiences, and ideas with EOLCNY. More information here 

Join a Research Study

Seeking volunteers for a study on end of life experiences of former caregivers. The study is being conducted by EOLCNY Director of Outreach and Education, Lillian Mehran, as part of her dissertation. She is scheduling interviews (via phone or video call) with individuals in the New York metropolitan area who lost a parent within the last 10 years. The study will be used to inform future programs, policies, and research. More information here.