From left, Joy Yadao, Eva Andrade and Father Mark Gantley were among the speakers at a Sept. 10 information session on the Diocese of Honolulu’s Catholic Advance Healthcare Directive. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
The diocese offers sessions to help the faithful draw up a document that will protect their end-of-life wishes
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
If you’re over 18, you should put together an advance health care directive by All Souls Day.
At least that’s what the Diocese of Honolulu and its collaborators on a new Catholic Advance Healthcare Directive would like you to do. It’s holding 10 training dates between August and November to promote its new Catholic Advance Care Directive. (See the end of this story for the remaining sessions.)
About 80 people showed up for the second Oahu roll-out session of “Our Faith, Our Freedom” on end-of-life care at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu the evening of Sept. 10.
The three-hour informational meeting included presentations and time for questions by Hope Young of palliative and hospice care organization Kokua Mau, Father Mark Gantley, the Diocese of Honolulu’s judicial vicar, Eva Andrade, executive director of the Hawaii Catholic Conference, and hospice nursing expert Joy Yadao.
“We are encouraging everyone in the diocese, 18 years and over, to make an advanced care directive,” Andrade told those gathered. The artificial deadline of Nov. 2, All Souls Day, is an incentive to get people moving.
That evening’s session gave participants lots of tools, advice and motivations to do so.
Young kicked things off by going through a short quiz and conversation starters from theconversationsproject.org to get people thinking about what they want in their advance care directive and how to talk with family and friends about making a directive for themselves and their loved ones.
Directives are legal documents outlining a person’s wishes for end-of-life care, which are particularly important for when someone is incapacitated or unable to express his or her desires.
Father Gantley touched upon the moral decision making aspects of dying.
“The Catholic Church does not want people suffering,” Father Gantley said. It does not call for a “dragging out of death.”
At the same time, the church does not support physician-assisted suicide or directly ending one’s life. Father Gantley pointed out that Catholics are “at an advantage” because they can offer up their sufferings to God.
The priest also pointed out how many medical issues regarding dying have subtle and significant differences and should be considered individually. For instance, “if there is hope of recovery,” then the Catholic Church says that in most cases a person is morally obligated to have life support, nutrition and hydration. But if someone was in a long-term coma, many factors would have to be considered.
Local Catholics look ahead
During a break at the evening’s session, Ashley Agcaoili, 35, said she came “to learn how to have the tough conversations with family and loved ones.”
The co-cathedral parishioner said that she and her husband plan to put together their own directives because “we understand that we never know” when they may be facing medical issues or dealing with end-of-life situations.
“Being young doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t happen for a long time,” Agcaoili said.
Sitting at a back table and taking notes was Kerry Yen of St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Mililani. He said he has elderly parents and an aging mother-in-law and wants to see if the advance care directives they already have align with Catholic teachings.
“I want to make sure that their answers are following the Catholic Church,” Yen said.
Because his father is 90 and mother 88, he knows that “these are issues that are approaching very rapidly.”
Yen said he was surprised that Father Gantley’s answers to many of the moral questions regarding care for the dying boiled down to “it depends.” Yen thought it would be more black and white.
After the break, Andrade walked attendees through the new Diocese of Honolulu Catholic Advance Care Directive.
“Don’t do your advanced healthcare directive and hide it in your secret place,” Andrade said. Tell family members and your agents where it is and give them copies.
Andrade also outlined four steps for everyone attending to take following the session: 1) Pray before doing anything. 2) Create your advance care directive, using the new diocesan form as a guideline. 3) Carefully choose two agents to help execute your wishes when the time comes. 4) Talk with your doctor about your advance care directive.
The last speaker of the evening was Yadao, the former executive director of St. Francis Hospice and a registered nurse, who focused on palliative care and hospice.
Palliative care is designed to give comfort earlier on in an illness, Yadao said, and it improves the quality of life for both the patient and the family.
Hospice is a type of palliative care for patients that a doctor has diagnosed as having less than six months to live if their disease follows a normal course. Once that parameter has been established, Yadao said, “We don’t have to talk about the dying party anymore. Let’s talk about living.”
Hospice is often as much for family members as it is for the patient, she added.
Some of the questions fielded throughout the evening training session included what to do if you don’t have family to talk to about end-of-life care (answer: turn to friends in your church, neighborhood, clubs or community activities), specific case scenario questions including giving food and water to a dying person, and whether a current directive someone has is morally acceptable.
Learn more
Several “Our Faith, Our Freedom” training sessions have already taken place but the following dates are still to come:
Oahu
- Saturday, Oct. 5, 9 a.m.-noon, Resurrection of the Lord, Waipio
- Tuesday, Nov. 12, 6-9 p.m., St. John Vianney, Kailua
- Thursday, Nov. 21, 6-9 p.m., St. Jude, Kapolei
Big Island
- Thursday, Oct. 3, 6-9 p.m., St. Joseph Church, Hilo
- Saturday, Nov. 23, 9 a.m.-noon, St. Michael, Kailua-Kona
Lanai
- Thursday, Sept. 26, 6-9 p.m., Sacred Hearts, Lanai City
If you can’t make a physical session or want online resources, head to catholichawaii.org/hcc for more information or email Eva Andrade at eandrade@rcchawaii.org.
