July 6, 2011 - Compassion & Choices Northern California's Matters of Life & Death Scholarship Writing Contest was a huge success with 185 students responding to the following prompt: Why should California pass a law to protect aid-in-dying for terminally-ill patients who are suffering at the end of their lives?

The Contest which aims to expose college-bound eleventh and twelfth graders in California to the aid-in-dying movement is pleased to announce the following winners:

First Place: Christopher Hyde
Second Place: Erin Breska

To read the students' winning essays and to learn more about this annual scholarship contest, please click here.

June 21, 2011 - Carole van Aelstyn, Compassion & Choices' Client Support Coordinator for Northern California, talks to SevenPonds about advance directives, aid in dying, and beginning the conversation about end of life wishes. Carole has been a nurse for over 24 years, including 10 years as a hospice worker. The SevenPonds blog promotes a healthy attitude towards the process of death by encouraging a meaningful experience that is in harmony with the environment.

Click here to read the interview.

June 9, 2011 - Dr. Robert Brody, a member of the northern California and national boards of Compassion & Choices, was a guest on KALW's Your Call radio show. The show, entitled How should we make end of life decisions, included:

• Robb Miller, Executive Director, Compassion & Choices of Washington;
• Donald Schumacher, President and CEO National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, and
• Robert Brody M.D., chief of the Pain Consultation Clinic and former chair of the Ethics Committee at San Francisco General Hospital and member of the board of directors for Compassion & Choices.

A podcast of the show is available at: http://a4.g.akamai.net/7/4/27043/v0001/kalw.download.akamai.com/27043/YourCall/060811yc.mp3