kokuamau.org- Kokua Mau

COVID-19 Webinars Zoom made easy Caregivers and general public Let’s make Personal Protection Equipment for Hawaii COVID-19 Respond with Aloha Events Calendar Palliative Pupus Monthly Meetings Palliative Care Summit 2020 Hawaii Palliative Care Virtual Summit 2021 News Archives Our Services Advance Care Planning Lets Talk Story Speakers Bureau The Conversation Project Caregiving POLST Information POLST for Providers Resources Find Answers Palliative Care Advance Directives POLST Hospice Care Talk about End-of-Life Care Understanding Your Choices Pain Can Be Controlled End-of-Life Questions The Last Stages of Life Definitions Advance Directives POLST Hospice Care Tools You Can Use Advance Directives Complete Life Course Five Booklets All KM documents The Conversation Project Local Resources Grief and Bereavement Making Decisions Regarding Mortuaries Advanced Dementia Resources and Issues LGBTQ+ Resources National Caregiver Resources Links Kokua Mau Newsletters Life-Prolonging Treatments For Professionals All Kokua Mau Documents POLST for Providers ACP Resources Palliative Care for Professionals Serious Illness Conversations Tools Webinars Hospice and Home Care Kokua Mau Reports Hawaii Resident Perceptions of ACP Analysis of our innovative ambassador program Articles and Reports Literature by Local Authors Unified Statement Upcoming Trainings Useful Links Certified Professionals Membership List of Kōkua Mau Members In Honor of Become A Member Current Projects Legislative Agenda in Hawai‘i Meeting Schedule Members Benefits About About Our Logo Who We Are Board of Directors Kokua Mau Key Staff Contact Us Job Board – by Members Organizations Supporters Languages List of All Languages Chinese Simplified Chinese Traditional Chuukese Ilocano Japanese Korean Marshallese Spanish Tagalog Tongan Vietnamese Welcome to Kōkua Mau Kōkua Mau is a Movement to Improve Care for those with serious illness and their loved ones. We are Hawaii’s trusted resource for accurate information on Advance Care Planning ( ACP ) including Advance Directive s and POLST , palliative care , which provides relief from the symptoms and stress of illness, and hospice care which provides the best care possible at the end of life. ( Kōkua Mau means ‘ Continuous Care ‘ in Hawaiian.) Collaborating since 1999: Kōkua Mau – A Movement to Improve Care. As a network of organizations and individuals we bring to the forefront meaningful, thoughtful and sensitive conversations on improving care and support for those with serious illness. We are viewed as a thought leader working to ensure that every individual has the right to quality care throughout their lives, including at the end of life. We advocate for quality palliative and hospice care within the medical and legislative communities in Hawai‘i. Our goal is to create a community in which advance care planning conversations are the norm. We are fostering a movement to change social norms in Hawai‘i regarding conversations and decisions around serious illness and end-of-life care, and to provide all individuals and communities with greater choice and control regarding their quality of life. We do not focus on the end of life, but rather the quality of life. We hope that you will find useful Hawai‘i-focused information and resources for yourself, your loved ones and those you care for. Advance care planning ( ACP ) can take place years before an illness or crisis occurs and is the first part of the continuum of planning for one’s legacy wishes. To make this possible Advance Directive s and POLST are key documents and our Let’s Talk Story Program is available for public and professional education. Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family. Hospice is specialized care which focuses on the needs of the person and loved ones in the last weeks and months of life and is seen as best care possible for those at the end of life. In our Tool Kit you find all Kōkua Mau materials (as PDF files) in one place. Kōkua Mau’s vision is a community where: the people of Hawai‘i are treated with dignity, compassion and love throughout their lives. To make that vision a reality, Kōkua Mau’s mission is: to weave a lei of caregiving and support so that the people of Hawai‘i facing serious illness can live in the place of their choice, with relief of pain and suffering and according to their values, beliefs and traditions. Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by the devastation on Maui. The pictures and stories are truly heartbreaking and we are sending our aloha and prayers to our Maui ʻOhana. As the tragedy on Maui still unfolds, we are all looking for ways to support and help our friends and colleagues on the ground. At this time, financial donations seem to be the best way to give. Our friends and colleagues at Hospice Maui have created a fund for disaster assistance to provide crucial support and relief efforts in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires. More What’s New in 2024? April 25, 2024 Kōkua Mau Meeting How is Hawaii doing in Serious Illness Care? How do we compare with other states? Please watch the video of a presentation on the ACT Index by Torrie Fields , presenting the latest data for Hawaiʻi, allowing us to track our progress and compare with other states. More March 2024 Kōkua Mau Monthly Meeting March 28 : Presentations by the Collective for Radical Death Studies and Association for Death Education and Counseling ( watch video ) who approached us to learn more about Hawaiʻi and our unique approach to death, grief, loss and remembrance. We also heard from Noelani Ahia from Maui with the topic Grieving Lahaina : Past and Present. The intimate connection between ‘āina and Kānaka and the space needed to heal. Watch the video . March 20 was our first hybrid Palliative Pupus , in person and on zoom. Legislative agenda for the 2024 session We are almost there! SB2529 has been passed by the Legislature and is now on the way to the Governor for his signature. We have one last opportunity to weigh in and participate in the legislative process. Follow this link to provide a comment on legislation on the Governor’s page. You will see that there is space for a brief message for our support for SB2529. Since there has been no opposition, we don’t think that a huge push is needed nor uploading of documents. But please weigh in. Thank you to everybody who submitted testimony for SB2529 SD 1 The bill was passed by the House and Senate on May 1! O ur Bill is moving and just passed the conference committee on Tuesday, April 23. SB2529 SD1 , was heard and passed as is by the House Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce (CPC) and House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs on March 21 . SB2529 SD1 was heard and passed as is by the House Committee on Health & Homelessness (HLT) on March 15. SB2529 SD1 was heard and passed as is” by the Committee on Judiciary (JDC) on Feb 16 . SB2529 was heard by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services Jan 31. It passed! More Highlights from 2023 Two new videos about our work: Highlights Kokua Mau Activities 2023 Quick overview Kōkua Mau Website September 2023 at our Kōkua Mau meeting we will heard updates from Hospice Maui from Melanie Dwyer and about the amazing work of the Kupuna Collective . Details July 2023: Chuukese Translations of Key Documents Adding Chuukese as the 11 th language is a milestone for us. Chuukese was the most requested language over the years and we are proud to have worked with an excellent translator. We are grateful to secure a grant that made it possible. The Updated and Improved POLST for Hawai’i The new POLST form is on the website as of June 29 , 2023. If you have the pre-May 2023 Hawaiʻi POLST version, it remains valid and does not expire . The Hawaiʻi POLST Task Force...