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Newsletter September 1, 2022
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This Issue's Contents
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AZELO Has New Bones! By Marie MacWhyte, Digital Marketing Lead
The Action Network is a online organizing platform. With over 1,640 members in our organization, we felt it is time to upgrade our management software. Action Network was chosen from the several platforms considered. Mark Savan, AZELO volunteer, is serving as Action Network Administrator.
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We are now in the process of transferring most of our processes into Action Network. With this account, we can publish actions to the public, such as petitions, RSVP requiring events, surveys, fundraising activities, and letter campaigns for emailing legislative leaders. |
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"In order to streamline our communication efforts, organization of volunteers, and political activity, this new system is ideal for us." Dwight Moore, Chair |
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Webinar registrations, newsletter subscriptions, and action team member activities can also now be tracked by Action Network. You’ll be able to detect our new look, but the differences are subtle. This month’s newsletter, for example, is coming from Action Network, not from MailChimp which we have previously been using.
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A big difference in operations with Action Network is its ability for mass emailing, with metrics. We now will be able to see which of our email recipients open their emails. To use this feature, send a draft of your AZELO correspondence to Kem Ellis, Volunteer Coordinator, with instructions to whom to send it. He will send it through Action Network and you will be able to receive a report with the metrics just described. |
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"This new system will give us better feedback about our outgoing communications so that we can better tailor the content to what our supporters want." Mark Savan, AN Administrator |
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Legislative Update by Leesa Stevens, Legislative Advocacy Leader
The primaries have now narrowed our list of legislative candidates to 138, all vying for 90 legislative positions.
Some good news for us is that we did lose a couple of our strong opponents, Joanne Osborne and John Fillmore. Our 2022 MAID sponsors Chris Mathis and Stephanie Stahl-Hamilton survived their contested primaries.
Also coming out of the primaries were 15 new candidates with no challengers in the general election so they have basically won outright. Out of these 15, we only know the positions of 2 so along with these 13 unknowns are several others that we still need to pin down.
In the upcoming weeks, our team will be reaching out to the rest of the candidates who have moved through their primaries and are campaining for the general. As far as the all-important Governor's race, we know Katie Hobbs is suppportive of MAID, her opponent Kari Lake is against.
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With the exception of 6 legislative districts, these campaigns continue through the first week in November. There are several districts where we have a MAID supporter running against a known anti-MAID candidate. I would like to encourage you to get involved to help our supportive candidates push through to the finish line and help us educate those candidate who are opposed.
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"I am doing what I was elected to do, which is to propose and pass legislation to support life..." Wendy Rogers, LD7 incumbant candidate (opposed to MAID) |
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If you haven't done so already, please sign up to join your Legislation District Action Team by clicking this link: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/volunteer-with-azelo-join-an-action-team?source=Newsletter Then continue reading to see this month's Action Alert for Action Team Members. Let's Do It, Team!
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Action Team Alert for September!
Team Members, as you are aware, the primaries are over and we are immersed in the general election campaign. Arizona End of Life Options wants to both support those candidates who are proponents of Medical Aid in Dying and challenge those who do not support it to articulate why not. We are asking that you take two steps to accomplish this.
STEP 1 (Thank the Supporters) We will be emailing you a list of legislators who support MAID to all the Action Team members in a couple of days. Please contact them to say:
STEP 2 (Educate the Opposers or Undecideds) a) Click on https://apps.arizona.vote/electioninfo/elections/2022-general-election/legislative/2523/33/0 to find the list of all the current candidate senators and representatives in Arizona. Scroll to your legislative district and find either the e-mail or phone number of the candidates (remember to not include the supporters from Step 1 above). If you don’t know your new legislative district (they have changed this year), email Kem at k.ellis@azendoflifeoptions.org and he will look it up for you. b) Send a brief message (by telepone or email) saying: “Laws in 11 states allow patients who have a terminal illness with a six month prognosis and are of sound mind, to self-ingest medication to end their life. What is your position on this?" Consider including a brief personal story about a bad death. This will sway the legislator more than anything. If you hear nothing back, follow up in about a week with the same request.
We are interested in your experience with this task. Drop me a note about the results you got with your efforts! Leesa Stevens at l.stevens@azendoflifeoptions.org
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My Community Learns about MAID By Ann Estabrooks, Action Team Member LD19
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"The Forum" is a lecture club that is sponsored by Green Valley Recreation in Green Valley, Arizona.
The Club offers weekly presentations on a large variety of subjects which are informative, mind-expanding, challenging and just plain entertaining. Presentations are given by invited area residents, authors, docents and business professionals. Attendees must be GVR members and pay an annual dues of $2.00.
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Forums are held Wednesday mornings 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Normally our presentations are at a GVR Social Center (or on Zoom if we’re experiencing a pandemic).
On October 5th, Southern Arizona Lead Mary Ganapol will be making a presentation about Medical Aid in Dying, in person, at the center. Are you associated with a club or organization that might be interested in having a speaker? If so, contact them and see if you can arrange a time to either speak yourself, or have someone from one of AZELO’s Action Team help with the talk.
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AZELO Volunteers Continue to Publish Letters to the Editor
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Another of our volunteers has managed to get their letter published. Now THIS is activism! Way to go Team!
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Freethought Today August 2022 |
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John was 86 when he got his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. After going through two courses of chemotherapy, his cancer had spread. He was put on hospice and given a six-month terminal diagnosis. His PeaceHeatlh doctors had not spoken to him about medical aid in dying because they are a Catholic hospital. Not even a referral. The hospice was also owned by PeaceHealth and their nurses are prohibited from speaking about that option but are allowed to talk about further medical treatment, palliative care, and Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking. A resident of Washington state, which has had a medical aid in dying law in place for 10 years, John luckily talked to a neighbor about that option. He contacted End of Life Washington and was assigned a volunteer who was able to walk him through a number of steps |
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so that he had a choice to self-injest medication to end his life with dignity. Since he was eligible for the law, his prescribing physical wrote him a prescription for the medication. Now John could choose to take that medication or not. He decided to do so a week after the prescription was filled at his pharmacy. Eleven states have medical aid in dying laws in place. The late FFRF (Freedom from Religion Foundation)donor Diane Uhl was an ardent supporter of Arizona End of Life Options, pledging $10,000 in matching Many states have such bills in front of their legislators. Check compassionandchoices.org for the status in your state.
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Upcoming Events
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Dying in America: Care Options Near the End of Life
Register by clicking this link: Your zoom link will be emailed to you, so check your spam folder if you don't see it! |
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Six Choices at the End of Life: Real Patients, Real Stories
Presented by Dr Dwight Moore, this zoom presentation describes the six choices people have about how they will exit this life and makes a case for considering Medical Aid in Dying as one of the choices. Register by clicking this link:
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Let's Talk About Death with Dwight Moore AZELO's newest webinar!
Whatever your circumstance, if the topic of death has been on your mind, then this webinar is for you. While we will be holding this Webinar on ZOOM, it will not be recorded. Not meant to be a “therapy” session but rather an opportunity for regular people to learn and share about this difficult topic.
September 14th, 2022 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm
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member dying now? Or have questions about the dying process and are wondering if you have all the necessary preparations in place in advance of your final chapter of life?|
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Jack Has A Plan A Community Event in Tucson at the Loft Cinema Free and open to the public (suggested $5 donation) Thanks to our additional sponsors:
View the trailer: https://jackdocumentary.com/
Please share this event with family, friends, on social media and your email contacts! Let’s fill the 370 seats and show our support for Arizona End of Life Options. Need flyers or movie posters? Email JackHasAPlan@AzEndOfLifeOptions.org
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ntry Club, Tucson|
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October Pride
If you are interested in helping, drop a note to Angela Shultz at aschultz@compassionandchoices.org
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Click on this blue box to be taken to our donation form. If you have used this online form in the past, you may need to clear your cache/browser history if you get an error message. Then try again.
However, if you'd rather mail in a check, please send it to: Death with Dignity Political Fund
Thank you, Dear Donors!
Your generous gifts are being put to good use! |
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Follow us on social media! |
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Arizona End of Life Options
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