Desert Messenger

August 12, 2020

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Got an event? List it FREE at Check out the NEW Free online Community Calendar! sponsored by Desert Messenger News Got Drugs? Turn in your unused or expired medication for safe disposal Mon - Fri. 8am-5pm Quartzsite Police Department 2 www.DesertMessenger.com August 12, 2020 End of Life Options Quartzsite Clinic welcomes New Nurse Practioner Bill Michalides, MSN, FNP-C La Paz Regional Hospital is pleased to announce that William "Bill" Mi- chalides, MSN, FNP-C has joined La Paz Medical Services in Quartzsite. After 10 years as an Critical Care ICU and Truama ICU nurse, he com- pleted nurse practitioner training and education at Frontier Nursing University in Hyden, Kentucky. Mr. Michalides will join Dr. Gochnour, Family Medicine, and Dr. Caton, Podiatry, in providing medical care in Quartzsite. According to Kevin Brown, CEO, "Especially during this difficult time with COVID-19, we are very fortunate to find a provider able to relocate to our community." Mr. Michalides began practice in Quartzsite on Tuesday, July 7, and is accepting new patients. Arizona End-Of-Life-Options (AZELO) is an all-volunteer, non- profit organization dedicated to the passage of a state law allowing ter- minally ill residents to obtain pre- scription medications to eliminate undue suffering at the end of life and assure a dignified, peaceful pass- ing. We are nonpartisan and non- sectarian. Our purpose, goals, and proposed legislation are modeled after our highly respected national partners: "Death with Dignity" and "Compassion & Choices." The end- of-life practice we endorse is called medical aid-in-dying (MAID). AZELO has had a busy year ramp- ing up for the 2020 November elec- tion with anticipation of a more progressive legislature coming in to office, which will undoubtedly view MAID in a more acceptable light. Since 2004, AZELO has submitted 20 bills to the AZ legislature, all of which have been prevented by the conservative majority from going into committee for consideration. "This should be for Arizonans to decide," said Dwight Moore, PhD, state chair of the campaign. Dwight was a team leader in California in 2015 when MAID was legalized there, and he also serves as a team leader in Washington State where he has attended over 50 deaths of patients using MAID. Dwight leads the AZ group from Goodyear. "70% of the US supports medical aid in dying," Moore added, "53% of physicians, the majority of resi- dents in AZ, and the vast majority of seniors support the law. The AZ legislature is not listening to the will of the people." Nine states and the District of Columbia already have MAID statutes in place which means this basic human right has been extended to some 70 million Americans. New Mexico and Mary- land are expected to pass the law this coming year which means Ari- zona is lagging behind the times. Dr Tom Fitch, MD, a retired pal- liative care doctor from the Mayo Clinic with multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is serv- ing as Medical Director of AZELO. "I cared for patients with cancer for more than 30 years and increas- ingly provided palliative and hos- pice care over the final 17 years of my career. I saw agonizing deaths despite my best efforts, and it was not rare for patients to ask me how I might help accelerate their dying." AZELO is committed to passing the Arizona bill by 2022. "We have quite a few exciting projects in the works," reported Dr Ronald Fis- chler, the third doctor coordinat- ing the campaign. "The 7 Touches" is going strong, which utilizes the efforts of 350 of our volunteers to contact their legislators monthly for seven months to educate them about the law. Free Zoom Webinars are being held every Friday at 1:00 pm with our doctors presenting the six choices we can anticipate at the end of our lives. Other Webinar top- ics are being planned. A monthly E-newsletter is published twice monthly for any interested resident to stay up to date on the progress of the AZELO campaign. For more information, visit www. azendoflifeoptions.org. On that site there are instructions about how to volunteer and to sign up for the Fri- day webinars. La Paz Medical Services is a Fam- ily Health Care Clinic located in Quartzsite Arizona and operated by La Paz Regional Hospital.For more than 25 years, La Paz Medical has provided healthcare to residents of Quartzsite, Ehrenberg, Brenda and beyond. The clinic offers services to children and adults. It is a member of the Vaccines for Children program and participates in the Tobacco and Chronic Dis- ease Management program. The clinic is located at 150 East Tyson, Quartzsite. For more information, please call 928-927-8747.

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