Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide

Transcription

1 Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide A toolkit for volunteers, partners and advocates to host a community gathering in support of death with dignity

2 Why host an event? Coming together in a small group at home or in a community space is a fundamentally human way to communicate and learn. Most people with a real interest in an important issue like death with dignity are looking for a deeper way to connect, beyond visiting the website. A small event with a video and/or brief presentation is manageable, low-cost, and has a big impact on those who attend. Gathering your friends, family and colleagues for a conversation at a community space or at home is no different than throwing a small party a party with a purpose In addition to being informative and engaging, it s also fun and social. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.1

3 Barbara s story Pennsylvania s Barbara Mancini is a nurse, a mom, and now a death-with-dignity advocate. She was unjustly prosecuted for handing her father 93 and terminally ill his prescribed morphine in his own home. Despite her father s choice to receive hospice care, and his do-not-resuscitate order, EMTs took him to the hospital, where he was treated against his wishes and her instructions. He died of pneumonia five days later. Barbara was immediately arrested and charged with assisted suicide, a charge widely lambasted in the media. Pennsylvania s attorney general insisted on pursuing the bogus case against Barbara until it was finally dismissed by a judge as based on speculation. The ordeal cost Barbara and her family over $100,000 in legal fees and one year in hell. Barbara was placed on unpaid leave during the trial but has now resumed her work as a nurse. She speaks out for death with dignity and works with Compassion & Choices to change laws. Because this really could happen to you. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.2

4 Working with a video If you are interested in planning an event to highlight Barbara s story, we can offer you a wonderful 25-minute video of her presentation, produced by Compassion & Choices. The video will be available on YouTube or on DVD (free of charge). To hold an event featuring the video presentation, you can use the discussion questions and activities in this guide to create an impactful event. You might also consider the following options: 1. Invite Barbara to join on a speaker phone after the video to answer questions and hold further discussion. 2. Hold a Google Hangout featuring the video presentation via YouTube. 3. Consider handing off the DVD to an attendee (perhaps as a prize) to hold a video event of their own with their friends. In some limited cases, Barbara may be available to attend your event in person, with support from Compassion & Choices. If you are interested in a personal appearance by Barbara and believe you can attract at least 50 people to your community event, please contact Compassion & Choices to discuss the possibility of Barbara attending inperson, or participating remotely. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.3

5 You ll be a great host It really is easy to host a small gathering to discuss important issues like death with dignity and end-oflife care. All you need are -an invitation list (10-40 for a home event, for a community event). -a space to gather (your living room or back yard can work just as well as the public library or a café with a meeting room). -a brief program (video presentation or speaker), and time for questions and conversation. -a few handouts to provide further information and some basic materials for an activity. -A/V equipment (a TV & DVD player are perfect for at-home events). -and yes, everyone loves refreshments It s really that easy (As you ll see in the pages ahead ) Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.4

6 Choosing the right venue: The most important determination in choosing a venue is making sure you have enough space. If you think you ll have more people than your living room can handle, consider a library, church or other community space. At Home (10-20 people): Be sure to have ample seating, and that the TV, refreshments and materials are easy to reach. Provide directions, including where to park or other relevant logistics. Make sure you know who s coming and who isn t, so there is room for everyone. In a community space (15-50 people): Be sure to check that there are enough chairs and A/V equipment is functioning. Provide directions, including where to park. or other relevant logistics. Make arrangements in advance for snacks and refreshments, as some venues have rules about food. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.5

7 The basics for an at-home event This worksheet offers a step-by-step guide to producing an at-home event. Organizing should begin about one month out. So plan ahead and give yourself at last four weeks to plan and promote your event. STEP ONE: PLAN AND SECURE [ ] Select a timeframe for your event (mid-november, early June, etc.). [] Secure Barbara Mancini video on YouTube (make sure your internet is fast enough for uninterrupted play) or by contacting Compassion & Choices for a DVD (if you d like to explore inviting Barbara to attend personally, please contact Compassion & Choices directly ASAP). STEP TWO: WHO TO INVITE? [ ] Begin compiling your invitation list. Use your own address book; ask some friends or colleagues for a short list of their friends; ask permission to send an e- blast at work, or to clubs or other organizations you belong to. [ ] Make sure your invitation list is a reasonable size, given how many people you can seat. For an at-home event, perhaps one in four people will be able to attend. [ ] Contact C&C and ask whether they might have additional ideas for invitees. STEP THREE: PROMOTE (TWO OR THREE WEEKS PRIOR TO EVENT) [ ] Draft and send an invitation to your list. [ ] Create a Facebook invitation and invite your social media friends (remember to tag Compassion & Choices in the invitation and all posts). [ ] Use the template in the Tools section of this guide to create fliers for your event (or create your own if you prefer). Put them on bulletin boards at work, church, school or clubs. Even the coffee shop, if you are open to having people you don t know attend. STEP FOUR: CREATE PROGRAM [ ] Draft your event program or agenda. [ Print out enough agendas for everyone at your event. [ ] Print out materials or handouts you may need for activities (petitions, letter writing) [ ] If you are using a DVD, check the DVD in your player in advance STEP FIVE: FOLLOW-UP [ ] Two or three days prior to the event, send a reminder to everyone you invited, and ask them to RSVP, if they haven t already, or to confirm if they have STEP SIX: DAY OF EVENT [ ] Arrange your furniture to accommodate your guests and feature your speaker [ ] Prepare refreshments for your guests. [ ] Put out your materials (agendas, petitions, etc.) [ ] Have a camera at the ready to take some snaps of your event for Facebook and C&C. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.6

8 The basics for a community event This worksheet offers a step-by-step guide to producing a modestly sized community event, perhaps at a church, community center, library or a cafe. Organizing should begin about two months out. So give yourself at least eight weeks to plan and promote your event. STEP ONE: PLAN AND SECURE [ ] Select a timeframe for your event (mid-november, early June, etc.). [ ] Secure Barbara Mancini video on YouTube (make sure your internet is fast enough for uninterrupted play) or by contacting Compassion & Choices for a DVD (if you d like to explore inviting Barbara to attend personally, please contact Compassion & Choices directly ASAP). STEP TWO: WHO TO INVITE? [ ] Begin compiling your invitation list. Use your own address book; ask some friends or colleagues for a short list of their friends; ask permission to send an e- blast at work, or to clubs or other organizations you belong to. [ ] Make sure your invitation list is a reasonable size, given how many people you can seat. For an at-home event, perhaps one in eight-to-ten people will be able to attend. [ ] Contact C&C to promote your event online, and ask whether they might have additional ideas for invitees in your area. STEP THREE: PROMOTE (TWO OR THREE WEEKS PRIOR TO EVENT) [ ] Draft and send an invitation to your list. [ ] Create a Facebook invitation and invite your social media friends (remember to tag Compassion & Choices in the invitation and all posts). [ ] Use the template in the Tools section of this guide to create fliers for your event (or create your own if you prefer). Put them on bulletin boards at work, church, school or clubs. Even the coffee shop, if you are open to having people you don t know attend. [ ] Create and maintain an RSVP list to track who is coming. STEP FOUR: CREATE PROGRAM [ ] Draft your event program or agenda, and send it to Barbara AND the venue so they are prepared. [ ] Print out enough agendas for everyone at your event. [ ] Print out materials or handouts you may need for activities (petitions, letter writing). [ ] If you are using a DVD instead of a live presentation, check the DVD in your player in advance. STEP FIVE: FOLLOW-UP [ ] Two or three days prior to the event, send a reminder to everyone you invited and ask them to RSVP if they haven t already or to confirm if they have. Mention seating is limited. STEP SIX: DAY OF EVENT [ ] Set up the venue in the best way for the event, and make sure to test any A/V equipment. [ ] Coordinate refreshments or reception for your guests before or after the presentation. [ ] Put out your materials (agendas, petitions, etc.). [ ] Have a camera at the ready to take some snaps of your event for Facebook and C&C. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.7

9 Sample Program Agenda (keep it simple) 6:00 pm: Doors open and guests begin arriving; snacks and refreshments are available 6:30: Welcome from host & Introductory Video from C&C (avail. Nov. 2014) 6:45: Introduce Barbara Mancini video 6:50: Barbara Mancini video presentation 7:15: Q&A 7:30: Activities, group discussion, mingling 8:30 pm: Goodnight

10 Questions for discussion It s hard to get your head around a case like Barbara s. It s difficult to imagine this happening to someone. Even if Barbara can t be present to take questions, talking through the issues with colleagues and friends will help everyone get a fuller understanding of the issues. General: Have you ever done any thinking about your own death, and how you want it to go? Should the state (government) have such a big role in these decisions? Where is the line between a caring government protecting us from harm and an intrusive one limiting our rights? Specific: Does everyone have a good understanding of what we mean when we say aid in dying and death with dignity? Has anyone experienced the end of life with a loved one? Are you comfortable talking about it? What was that experience like? What do you know about the law in your state? Should it be changed? Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.9

11 Activities to consider Now that you have everyone together, it s a perfect opportunity to help guests learn more and get involved with some basic activities. If you choose something advocacy-oriented, you may want to consider letting everyone know its OK to opt out. NOTE: For Oregon advocates, please review our Activism in Oregon guide to coordinate with ongoing activities before proceeding with outreach efforts. Raise your voice in public affairs: 1. Circulate and sign a petition. Petitions may seem old-school, but the truth is they are an easy way to let lawmakers know that folks are paying attention. Even one or two pages of signatures, attached to a short letter, can have an impact. So sign away (See sample at the end of this guide). 2. Write a letter to the editor. The other oldest trick in the book, but tried and true You d be amazed how six or seven letters on the same topic can inspire a newsroom to more coverage on an issue and influence community leaders. Just one page: direct, polite and clear. And unlike writing to your U.S. representative, here, a little flowery language just might get you published. Look on your newspaper s (or other news outlet s) website for details on length and submission, and see our Letter Writing Guide in the Volunteer Action Center on CompassionAndChoices.org. 3. Write a letter to your state representative. Better yet, have some paper and envelopes, and invite everyone to write a letter. One page, hand written is sufficient. There is no magic language. Just tell your lawmaker your opinion and why. And mention Compassion & Choices, referencing Barbara Mancini s case See our Letter Writing Guide in the Volunteer Action Center for more details. Take ac5on on a personal level: 4. Download and review an advance directive form from CompassionAndChoices.org. Learn more about planning for your own care options with this simple but important tool. Not everyone will complete one, but reviewing it together can take some of the mystery out of it and help make people more comfortable with the subject. 5. Discuss and take the Ask Your Doctor Pledge. Consult the Talking to Your Doctor Toolkit on CompassionAndChoices.org. Remember to mention Compassion & Choices and reference Barbara Mancini s case. You can consider sharing the answers you get on social media and providing them to Compassion & Choices along with your doctor s contact information. 6. Do the Six Words social media action. Be creative and spread the word with Compassion & Choices Six Words social media challenge. Its as simple as a pen and paper and a smart phone Simply describe your support for death with dignity using only six words. Write them down, take a photo, and post to social media with #EOLCSIXWORDS. See the Six Words Blueprint in the Volunteer Action center for examples. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.10

12 Using social media Because of the power of technology, you can throw a small event in your house or library, but thousands can be touched by your efforts online. Whether as a tool to promote your gathering and invite your friends, or a place to post pictures of your event and share your success, social media is a powerful tool everyone can use. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.11

13 Sample posts A basic message with the facts can be enough to interest friends and colleagues in your event. Always include an image if you want to be seen In this screenshot from Facebook, you can see that C&C is tagged in this post, as it appears in a different color. If you are a friend of C&C, Facebook should automatically recommend tagging when you type C&C s name in your post Tagging (mentioning and linking to) Compassion & Choices in your post will help get it seen by others interested in death with dignity. Remember to post several times leading up to the event (two weeks out, one week out and two days out). Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.12

14 Report your success after the event; then even those who couldn t make it still see what happened and can read more online as you link them to Compassion & Choices. TIP: For a more impactful post, tag your state or congressional representatives in your post, or post directly to their Facebook pages and use their hash tags to make yourself heard. Again, always use a strong picture Note that C&C is tagged in this post as well. You can consider promoting your post on Facebook for a fee of $6.99 (you ll need a PayPal account). Also, you can directly ask your friends to like your post, which will also increase visibility. If you also use Twitter, be sure to include C&C in your tweet, at the handle below. You can also add a hash tag like Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.13

15 In her own words To help you plan your event, we asked Barbara a few questions in advance so you can better understand her perspective. You can also use these as quotes for social media, event promotion or to share with your invitees. What are the three big things you want everyone to know about your experience? 1. It could happen to you. There is nothing special about me or my family that led this to happen to us. Inadequate hospice care along with self-serving people in public life could bring this kind of thing down on anyone who is trying to care for a loved one at the end of life. 2. We have to change the law. I don t know if my father would have used aid in dying, but he would have wanted the choice. No one should have to suffer as he did at the end of his life. 3. No one should ever be subjected to what I went through. It s impossible to really describe what it was like, trying to grieve for my father and at the same time being prosecuted by the state. What is the most important lesson to be learned from this whole experience? Do your research and planning to the best of your ability. Not everyone has access to all the facts, and the healthcare system is complex. Know your rights Know your healthcare providers responsibilities I talk a lot about hospice care and the experience we had. It has not been easy to find the information about Medicare and what is legally required of hospices, but now that I know, I think we could have made better choices earlier on. How has this experience changed you? I don t really have the same trust in law enforcement anymore. And that s a really terrible thing. I mean, for society as a whole, when public figures behave this way, it makes us mistrust law and government. And that is so much bigger than just my case or healthcare policy. Do you have any larger thoughts on life and the universe after this experience? No one escapes death. It s not the same as other social issues. Because everyone dies. Everyone. And no one wants someone else dictating their departure from this life. No one. So we ve got to bring more attention to these issues and create change. Compassion & Choices: Barbara Mancini Event Planning Guide p.14

16 Five easy ways to take action right now There are so many ways to support death with dignity and Compassion & Choices; here are just a few opportunities that are quick and easy, but really will make a difference. Please take action today 1. Complete a response card [one minute]. 2. Like Compassion & Choices on Facebook and follow us on Twitter [one minute]. 3. Go to the website and sign up for newsletters [two minutes]. 4. Tell your friends and colleagues about death with dignity and Compassion & Choices [three five-minute conversations]. 5. Make a contribution to Compassion & Choices online [three minutes]. For more details on any of these action items, as well as other activities and opportunities to get involved, please visit:

17 PLEASE STAY IN TOUCH Complete the following response card to stay up to date on death with dignity issues from Compassion & Choices: First & last name: Mailing address: City, state, zip: Phone: I m interested in: [ ] Volunteering [ ] Staying informed [ ] Making a contribution [ ] Dying well 1. Please remember to send this page to: Compassion & Choices 4224 NE Halsey St., Suite 335 Portland, OR FAX volunteer@compassionandchoices.org

18 We, the undersigned, feel strongly that terminally ill, mentally competent adults should have the right to medication and support services they can use to achieve a peaceful death. Specifically, we call for legislation in the state of to ensure these rights, and to require medical professional to make more options available to the terminally ill. Name Address City + State Zip 1. Please send (via , FAX, or post) the original signed page(s) of your petition to your legislator. Please check with Compassion & Choices if you are uncertain which legislator you should target. Remember that OR petitions should do directly to Compassion & Choices. 2. Please remember to send a copy of all petition pages to Compassion & Choices: 4224 NE Halsey St., Suite 335 Portland, OR FAX: Volunteer@compassionandchoices.org

19 Hear Barbara Mancini s Story -Learn About Death With Dignity- Arrested and prosecuted for assisted suicide in PA for handing her terminally ill dad his morphine Judge threw out case one year later. One important thing I want people to know is that this could happen to you Barbara Mancini Join us as we hear from the noted death-with-dignity activist. Hear about her terrible ordeal. Learn about end-of-life care, your rights as a patient and your health provider s responsibility under the law. YOUR EVENT INFORMATION HERE: TIME, DATE, PLACE RSVP. DIRECTIONS. PARKING Place a partner or venue logo here Place a partner or sponsor logo here