August 25, 2016
Announcements and Reminders
Today’s Rotarian of the week was Rich Hamlin for handling the finances as treasurer… truly our unsung hero!
Next Monday Aug 29th there a mixer at Bruno’s in Scotts Valley. You can sign up with Al.
John Fisher announced that the Rotary Foundation will be soliciting the membership for their annual donation next month!
Sept 17th is the Beer Can Beach Clean-up. Meet at 9:00 AM.
 
Kendra introduced the speaker today, Cathy Conway, the Chief Communication Officer from Hospice.
  
 
 
 
 
Cathy began by telling us stories of hospice patients, as examples of the services hospice provides including medical equipment and medications delivered to the home. They even have pet therapy and music therapy programs!  Something very special is a camp, Camp Erin which is a free camp for any child who is grieving the loss of someone special. It is at Mt. Hermon and is free of charge.
Santa Cruz County Hospice is our community’s oldest non-profit hospice. They have 190 patients and provide a variety of services including support, care and education.  Cathy spoke today about hospice as well as the End of Life Option Act (the result of new legislation).  We are now one of five states with this type of law. The Oregon experience has been helpful in understanding how this option works. There out of 32000 non-accidental deaths in 2014, the prescription was written for 155 people and 105 people died from ingesting the medication… so it is a very small percentage of dying people that choose this option.  Of these 68% had a cancer diagnosis, 16 % had ALS; 93% were enrolled in hospice care.  So Cathy said this reflects that it is usually a well thought out decision.  The biggest reason (91%) is the fear of loss of autonomy followed by life not being enjoyable any more.
Who can choose this option? The patient must be over 18, a resident of CA, have a terminal illness 6 months or less to live, capacity to make medical decisions, and the ability to take the drug (you can’t give the drug to someone else). Still, legally not considered suicide. The prescription process needs to have one written witnessed request that goes to the attending physician followed by a 15 day waiting period.  Two physicians are involved, with a consulting physician confirming the diagnosis and the prognosis. The MD must also confirm the patient’s wishes and their capacity to make the decision. The hospice role in this is to educate and support the patient and family.
Cathy reminded us that hospice is a benefit of Medicare and most private insurance .
A very touching moment occurred when a member of the club shared that he is choosing this option and also when a member of the staff’s son was featured in the final video and shared that each day mattered to him and his day at the Sharks  arranged by Hospice game was one of the best days of his life.