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Newsletter December 1, 2022
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This Issue's Contents
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Just Launched: AZELO Podcast Series! By Marie MacWhyte, Digital Marketing Lead
Do you listen to podcasts? I sure do. If you see me walking around our community with earbuds in, you can bet I'm listening to one of my favorite podcasts. Podcasts are all the rage right now, as you can listen to content you are interested in, when you want to listen. And without video to watch, you can listen while doing another activity, like walking, cleaning house or working in the yard, even while driving the car. |
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🎉🍾🥂Now for our exciting news! 🍾🥂🎉
AZELO HAS JUST LAUNCHED OUR VERY OWN PODCAST SERIES!! |
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Here's what this is all about: As we've been talking to so many people about Medical Aid in Dying, we have discovered that there are widely different perspectives on this controversial subject. Often we find people who are opposed to MAID, but have not come to this conclusion through person reflection, they are simply parroting what they've heard others say. Then there are people who have taken time to develop what they personaly believe based on their philosophy, empathy, and their study of the facts. These are the people we have chosen to feature in our podcast series. Our first podcast features the Reverend Jim Hines who shares his Christian perspective on MAID and our second podcast will feature Reverend Robin Zucker with her Unitarian perspective. Subscribe to our podcast to hear them and other insightful people share their perspectives on MAID. Look for us in Spotify, iTunes, and many other podcast apps, or manually add this URL to the RSS option in your podcast app: https://anchor.fm/s/d14cb7ac/podcast/rss Then, share our podcast with your family and friends! And if you need help getting started, just shoot me an email: m.macwhyte@azendoflifeoptions.org
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First Episode of our Podcast Series You can listen here! |
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Post Election Legislative Update By Leesa Stevens, Legislative Advocacy Leader We have Great news coming out of the midterm election! In January 2023 we will have a new Arizona Governor, Katie Hobbs, who is a Medical Aid in Dying supporter! Finally someone to champion our issue in the Governor's office after eight years of a Ducey veto hanging over our heads. All we need to do now is get our bill through the legislature and to Governor-Elect Hobbs for her signature. The 2023 Legislature will again be a challenge for us. At least we will not have Senator Barto as the Senate Health Committe Chair and Representative Osborne as the House Health Committee Chair to block our bills this year, as the two of them have done for almost as long as I can remember. Osborne lost her primary race and Barto lost her general election race. By my count, there will be 43 new faces in the legislature in 2023, with 47 returning legislators having run and won their elections. My team and I started back in May contacting the Legislative candidates (all 162 of them!) and currently the breakdown of newly elected Legislator MAID postions are as follows:
With the Republicans looking like they've won 31 seats in the House and 16 seats in the Senate, both Health Committee Chairs will have new Republican faces. I will have more to say about the Health chairs and their committee members in my January newsletter update, as well as who our MAID bill sponsors will be and a bit about some changes to our bill language. Stay tuned for an interesting 2023 legislative session and have a Happy Holiday! |
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If you haven't gotten into podcasts yet, starting up is easy. Just get a pair of earbuds to use with your phone or computer. |
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Legislative District Action Teams, Join Today! By Marie MacWhyte, AZELO Digital Marketing Lead |
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Arizona is divided into 30 Legislative Districts (LD), each one represented by one State sentator and two House representatives. These are the leaders who can pass our Medical Aid in Dying bill into law. At Arizona End of Life Options, we have formed our Action Teams along these same lines, so if you are in LD 1, for example, you'll be in Action Team 1 as well. |
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Getting a bill passed in the Legislature will take a groundswell of public pressure, so all our voices are needed. So please don't just sit by thinking other constituents are accomplishing the task. We need everyone to participate. So if you haven't done so already, click the link below to join your action team, and then look for your monthly action alerts. Join our team of dedicated constituents and help us accomplish our goals which are to 1) Educate the Arizona public and our lawmakers about the facts of Medical Aid in Dying and 2) Urge the passage of this law. Join your Action Team; Help us Legalize MAID in AZ!
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How to vote “thumbs up” on the Arizona End of Life Options bill In early 2023, we will have a bill number and YOU can help us tell our Arizona legislators you support the bill by voting “thumbs up.” |
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The system is called “Request to Speak” or RTS and is available throughout the legislative session as a way to let our lawmakers know where we stand on our bill. |
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RTS is designed to allow the public to register an opinion on bills listed on agendas and to request to speak on a bill in a committee. It replaces the old slips of paper previously used to sign in and let the committee chairperson know you want to speak to the committee. Under the old paper system, you could only sign in to speak or register an opinion if you were physically at the capitol. The RTS program allows you to participate from your home or office using your computer. When the committee is in session, the committee members, and the public, will see a list of names of people who have registered an opinion, if you wish to speak or not, who you are representing, and comments you may leave in the comment box. This information is also available if a person searches past committee agendas. Legislators will see your bill position throughout the process. To participate, you'll need to activate an RTS account and the nice folks at Civic Engagement Beyond Voting (CEBV) can do this for you. They also have very user-friendly training sessions on how to use the RTS system, if you need one, once your account is activated. CEBV is a non-partisan grassroots group and they have registered over 12,000 Arizonans for Request to Speak throughout the state. Go to https://www.cebv.us/ and ‘click’ on the ‘Request to Speak’ tab to get started. This is a simple way for a volunteer to become an activist without leaving the house! |
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Upcoming Events
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Six Choices at the End of Life: Real Patients, Real Stories Presented by AZELO Chair, 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. Audience participation is encouraged! 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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How to Advocate for Medical Aid in Dying in Arizona |
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This webinar can be described as MAID 101. We will take a detailed look at what the medical aid in dying (MAID) law is all about: the qualifications and the safeguards. We'll debunk the misconceptions and confirm the facts surrounding this topic which is often misunderstood by voters and lawmakers alike. |
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Want to feel comfortable talking to friends and family about MAID? By the end of this class, you will feel confident advocating for a MAID law in Arizona. Monday, December 12th from 6:00 - 7:00 pm Arizona Time 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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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 PO Box 2009 Portland, OR 97208 Please note on the check memo line "AZ C4" to ensure that it is properly accounted for. Thank you, Dear Donors!
Your generous gifts are being put to good use! |
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Arizona End of Life Options
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