Rally aims to boost hospice care

Hospice supporters from across New York will converge on the State Capitol Nov. 3 for a rally to kick off National Hospice Month.

The one-hour event, titled "Hands Around the Capitol," is aimed at drawing public attention to hospices as a form of end-of-life care preferable "to the extremes of mechanical prolongation of the dying process or assisted suicide," say hospice officials.

Among the speakers scheduled for the rally are Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, Congressman Michael McNulty, Stewart's Shops corporate CEO William Dake and State Attorney General Dennis Vacco. Hospice patients, family and friends, volunteers, staff, and board members from throughout the state will also attend.

The rally will conclude with participants holding hands around the Capitol. Afterward, Mr. Vacco will award a $45,000 grant to officials of The Community Hospice to promote hospice care as a choice in end-of-life care, rather than physician-assisted suicide. The Community Hospice is sponsored by MercyCare, which also operates St. Peter's Hospital in Albany.

Bishop Hubbard told The Evangelist that aside from the rally's marking National Hospice Month, it will be a good way to provide information to the public on care for the terminally ill.

"It's always good to raise up for the community what hospice does," the Bishop stated. "It's unfortunate that there's still a lack of information about the program."

In addition, he said, "Hands Around the Capitol" will help to allay the fears that still lead many people to consider physician-assisted suicide as an option -- fears that often result when people feel lonely, abandoned, forgotten or a burden to their loved ones.

Hospice care is "an effective response" to those concerns, he said, particularly since studies have shown that once such fears are dealt with, public support for assisted suicide decreases.

Through his own participation, Bishop Hubbard hopes to "communicate the support of the Roman Catholic community for the hospice movement, and to [say to] our elected officials that [hospice care] is the answer, not physician-assisted suicide. Hospice is the antidote to the dilemma of physician-assisted suicide."

("Hands Around the Capitol," sponsored jointly by The Community Hospice and the New York State Hospice Association, will be held Nov. 3, 11 a.m., on the steps of the State Capitol in Albany. For information/transportation, call 1-800-678-0711.)

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