Compassion & Choices Hawaii

15/08/2024

Earlier this summer, we were honored to participate in the Festival of the Pacific Arts & Culture held here in Hawai'i, FestPac Hawaiʻi.

This amazing event brought together over 50,000 Indigenous Pacific Islanders to share, celebrate, honor and preserve traditional practices. Our team was proud to participate in this meaningful cultural exchange and provide attendees with free end-of-life information and resources.

09/08/2024

Art is a meaningful way to foster connection, raise consciousness, and reflect on both life and death.

We were honored to help bring George Nuku to Hawai‘i. As a contemporary Māori artist from Aotearoa New Zealand, Nuku often uses plastics to develop unique and provocative pieces highlighting environmental concerns.

By sponsoring cultural events like this, Compassion & Choices is building community through the arts in Hawai‘i and reaching more people with end-of-life resources and support.

24/05/2024

Compassion & Choices was proud to sponsor the Pacific Island Artists Series in our continued efforts to bridge end-of-life education efforts and the arts in Hawaii. Watch Maka Gallinger perform Somewhere Over the Rainbow and more!

This production was sponsored by Compassion & Choices. Their Mission"We envision a society that affirms life and accepts the inevitability of death, embra...

11/08/2023

Our hearts are with the people of Maui. Please join Compassion & Choices in supporting the Maui Strong fund administered through Hawaii Community Foundation.

Maui Strong

04/08/2023

Sign up now for "As the End Nears: Dying with Dementia." This free webinar happens Tuesday August 8 at 9 a.m. Hawaii time.

Sign up to attend a Compassion & Choices Event

02/08/2023

We are so grateful to Community First Hawaii, Hawaii Tribune-Herald and West Hawaii Today for the opportunity to share details on the newly improved Our Care, Our Choice Act. The law now allows qualified APRNs to prescribe, and reduces Hawaii's 20-day waiting period to 5 days.

The Our Care, Our Choice Act gives Hawaii’s terminally ill patients another option to avoid suffering and die peacefully on their own terms. The law authorizes medical aid in dying, or MAID, and now it’s easier to access.

28/06/2023

Earlier this month, Gov. Josh Green signed HB650, the bill to improve access to the Our Care, Our Choice Act. The law became effective immediately. Medical aid in dying is now a more accessible choice for terminally ill Hawaiʻi residents who want this compassionate end-of-life option.

We thank Gov. Green and Hawaiʻi champions pictured here and all supporters who contributed to this success.

28/06/2023

Once again Christine Donnelly and Kokua Line get it exactly right. Mahalo Honolulu Star-Advertiser for this succinct recap of the improvements to our medical aid-in-dying law. Our waiting period between first and second oral requests is now 5 days, and qualified APRNs can now prescribe.

Question: Does the expansion of Hawaii’s medical-­aid­-in-dying law make it possible for visitors to rely on this law, which assists the terminally ill who don’t want to prolong their suffering?

25/05/2023

Hau'oli lā hānau Mr. John Radcliffe.
Our champion for end-of-life options would have been 81 today. He was the catalyst for passage of the Our Care, Our Choice Act, his final fight, authorizing medical aid in dying for terminally ill Hawaii residents. Not one to rest on laurels, his dying wish was to see the law improved so that more people could have access. We are on the verge of granting that wish. HB650 awaits Governor Josh Green's signature, upon which the improved law will immediately take effect. Mahalo to our courageous and compassionate lawmakers including Senator Joy San Buenaventura, Senator Jarrett Keohokalole, Sen. Sharon Moriwaki, State Representative Della Au Belatti, Rep. Troy Hashimoto and so many others for getting us to this historic point.

01/02/2023

Thank you so much to the members of the House Committee on Health & Homelessness who today voted in support (6-1) of moving HB 650, the bill to improve the Our Care, Our Choice Act, to its next step in the legislative process. Take a moment to send a mahalo to them via email.

SAY MAHALO: https://join.compassionandchoices.org/a/say-mahalo-members-hawaii-house

04/08/2022

We are so grateful to Hawaiʻi Public Radio and Dr. Kathleen Kozak's The Body Show for this in-depth interview with Aubrey Hawk. Enlightening commentary on the Hawaii State Department of Health's 3rd annual report to the Legislature on the Our Care, Our Choice Act--who is using the law, what does current access look like, and what changes need to be made. https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/show/the-body-show/2022-08-02/the-body-show-compassion-and-choices

If you had a terminal illness would you want to have the option to end your own life with medication? Aubrey Hawk from Compassion and Choices is on the line sharing her personal story of why she supports medical aid in dying and how the covid pandemic actually made access a little easier. What is th...

20/07/2022

Mahalo Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Christie Wilson! We appreciate this front page story on the Department of Health's most recent report to the Legislature on the Our Care, Our Choice Act. It's encouraging to note that more doctors are supporting their patients who wish to use the law. Compassion & Choices applauds DOH's recommendation to lawmakers that qualified APRNs be allowed to help their patients use the law, and that the mandatory waiting period should be waived if a provoder determines the patient will not survive it.

A growing number of patients and physicians are participating in Hawaii’s medical-aid-in-dying program, but delays in the eligibility process continue to present challenges for terminally ill patients in their final days, according to the state Department of Health.

06/07/2022

We are so grateful to Samie Solina and Hawaii News Now for this incredibly moving story last night! Mahalo Lesa Griffith for sharing your mom, Ramona Ching's exprience using the Our Care, Our Choice Act. Compassion & Choices is working hard to make this option more accessible in Hawaii.

Hawaii’s “Our Care, Our Choice” Act went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, giving terminally ill patients the right to use prescribed end-of-life medications. Twenty-eight people died that year after being prescribed the medications.

09/06/2022

Join Compassion & Choices volunteers, supporters and Sen. Laura Acasio and Rep. Troy Hashimoto to discuss the 2022 Hawaii legislative session, what happened with the bill to improve the Our Care, Our Choice Act, and our next steps for removing barriers to access in the Aloha State. You'll also have the opportunity to meet and connect with our new Hawaii State Manager, Sara Manns!

RSVP: join.compassionandchoices.org/a/hawaii-legislative-debrief-2022

Act today to expand choice at the end of life.

11/04/2022

HB1823, the bill to improve access to the Our Care, Our Choice Act, is scheduled for its final Senate floor vote tomorrow. Learn about the Department of Health's recommendations to Hawaii lawmakers in this excellent interview with Compassion & Choices Hawaii Director Sam Trad. Mahalo Hawaiʻi Public Radio and Dr. Kathleen Kozak! https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/show/the-body-show/2022-02-21/the-body-show-medical-aid-in-dying-legislative-update

What happens at the end of life when a loved one is terminally ill? Are there ways to ease their suffering? Back in 2019, Hawaii passed the law that allows for medical aid in dying. But it wasn't perfect legislation. There are still access issues, and patients who might want to explore this option m...

01/04/2022

HB1823 passes Joint Committee on Commerce & Consumer Protection and Judiciary!! ✨

We couldn’t have gotten this far without your advocacy and the tireless advocacy of our legislative champions, including Senators Roz Baker, Karl Rhoads, Jarrett Keohokalole and Laura Acasio, who all voted for and helped pass out the bill today.

Can you take a moment to send them, and the other members of the committee who voted for the bill, a thank you for fighting to improve the Our Care, Our Choice Act?
candc.link/ThankJointSenate

16/02/2022

Great news! H.B. 1823, the bill to improve the Our Care, Our Choice Act by expanding providers and reducing the suffering period, just passed out of the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce with a 9-2 vote!

You can thank the committee members who voted yes, here: candc.link/ThankYouCPC

05/02/2022

“Most people don’t realize what a cumbersome process it is to access the law.”
--Sam Trad, Compassion & Choices
Mahalo Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Leila Fujimori for covering the Kupuna Caucus press conference yesterday, and for this reporting. We're working hard to ensure that all Hawaii residents have access to the full range of end-of-life options.

A package of five bills aimed at assisting Hawaii’s seniors in daily living — and dying — was unveiled Friday by the Kupuna Caucus, the only legislative caucus comprising members of the public, 126 organizations and agencies, and lawmakers.