Terminal illnesses can’t be put on hold. As I look out the window and welcome the first signs of spring — trees flowering, warmer weather, birds singing — life almost feels normal. It’s nearly unfathomable that just a couple of weeks ago, life WAS normal. Today, our world is dramatically different. Uncertainty is the new normal, as [...]

Even for an organization that deals with health crises every day, the COVID-19 pandemic is sobering and calls for new tactics. In the early days of the pandemic, our seriously ill and terminally ill supporters began expressing deep-seated concerns: concerns that they were more vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus and dying prematurely, concerns that the [...]

Rita Perdichizzi of Fayetteville, Georgia, is taking a proactive — and positive — approach to her diagnosis of early-onset dementia. Rita Perdichizzi knows vividly how relentless Alzheimer’s disease is, having helped care for her father the five years he lived with it before dying at age 76. As his disease progressed, he lost his ability [...]

National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD), April 16 this year, is always a time when Compassion & Choices places particular emphasis around consumer empowerment and end-of-life planning. This year, with the coronavirus ravaging communities worldwide, the importance of understanding, planning and advocating for one’s care preferences at life’s end is of paramount importance. “Over the past [...]

We are living in an unprecedented time as we adjust to the rapidly changing healthcare landscape created by COVID-19. Hospitals and healthcare professionals are trying to manage the demands created by the influx of affected patients and reported shortages of hospital beds and ventilators. Nursing home populations and older adults, often with underlying chronic medical [...]

Debra Brockel knows her days are numbered. But her mind is at ease because she’s the one doing the counting. Brockel, 60, has suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, since 2006. She has endured severe exacerbations of the disease, which irreversibly damages the lungs, and all manner of medical treatment and hospitalizations. She [...]

The weekend sun has melted the snow and is encouraging the green grass. Fish are swimming lazily around the large backyard koi pond at his Elgin home. And Ralph McFadden looks good and feels good. None of which is ideal for a serious column about the suburban Compassion & Choices group he's working with to pass a [...]

New Book Releases In January 2019, Compassion & Choices released Finish Strong: Putting Your Priorities First at Life’s End. Since then, Finish Strong has become a rallying call to the public to lead with their values concerning end-of-life healthcare decisions. In response to the many supporters who have asked for an audiobook version of Finish Strong, we have completed [...]

D.C. resident Trisha White, while grateful to have legal access to medical aid in dying, knows that practical access is not as straightforward and wants to help change that. more at link: Storyteller Spotlight: Trisha White    

Note from the CEO: Opening Hearts and Minds to Make Room for Change The great historian Carter G. Woodson believed understanding the past opens doors to the future. He created what is now Black History Month in 1926 to highlight the contributions his community was making to this country’s development and success. During a time [...]