Support EOLCNY for #GivingTuesdayNow

Today, May 5th, 2020, End of Life Choices New York is participating in #GivingTuesdayNow, a global generosity movement established as an emergency response to the unprecedented needs caused by COVID-19.

COVID-19 has changed almost everything, including how we think about healthcare, death, and dying. Recent media articles indicate the overwhelming need for advance care planning discussions and health care proxies. Our public advocacy efforts are more important than ever and our staff has been working tirelessly to respond to the urgent need for support. We are intensifying our efforts to improve care and expand choices in New York. 

Our Response to COVID-19

• We successfully advocated for an executive order permitting remote witnessing to assist New Yorkers in completing advance care directives.  These forms previously required a physical signature — an impossibility for many due to social distancing. 
• Building on our existing, robust educational programming, we developed an educational video to raise awareness of advance directives and are hosting webinars in collaboration with libraries to continue to share this vital information and raise awareness about the new regulations. 
• We continue to offer our free counseling service that provides information and support to individuals and families. Our Clinical Director, Judith Schwarz, recently served on a panel of experts addressing the new complex concerns about end of life care, click here  for the summary. 
• We are participating in Reimagine, Life Loss and Love, a worldwide virtual festival on embracing life, facing death, and loving fully in the face of COVID-19.  EOLCNY will come together with other change-makers in the arts, spirituality, healthcare, and design to provide offerings that will transform our approach to life and death as we all navigate this global pandemic.
• We are creating live and recorded webinars that will offer CEUS for licensed social workers. The topics include advance care planning, voluntarily stopping eating and drinking, and our dementia directive. 
• We are launching a pilot “Health Care Proxy Helpline” supported by a grant from The Completed Life Initiative.  We are creating a social media campaign and educational materials to address barriers to completing a health care proxy form and to increase the number of New Yorkers who have a designated health care agent. Trained volunteers will offer free one-on-one assistance with completing the forms. This unique program will target the most disproportionately impacted communities in New York — essential workers and communities of color. 

YOU CAN HELP

EOLCNY desperately needs your support so that we may continue to play a major leadership role during this pandemic and strengthen our efforts to improve care and expand choice at life’s end. Please support our efforts  by making a contribution.

In honor of #GivingTuesdayNow, End of Life Choices has a goal of raising $5,000 in 24 hours.

Click here to make a contribution by credit card (or click the “donate” button below). Alternatively, you may send a check made payable to End of Life Choices New York to 244 5th avenue, Suite 2010, New York, NY 10001. Please call us at 212-726-2010 to learn how to send a stock or wire gift. 

Stay safe and thank you for your continued support!

Ayana Woods, MPH

Executive Director

If you would like counseling on end of life issues, at no charge, please call our Clinical Director Judith Schwarz, PhD, at 212-252-2015, or email her at judith@eolcny.org. To reach our general office, call 212-726-2010.

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.