Honoring Choices: Creating Space for End-of-Life Wishes
Watch a live performance of Elizabeth Coplan's play “Honoring Choices” and join Bonnie Bizzell from Honoring Choices PNW as she moderates a conversation about the care you want if you can’t decide for yourself.
Play synopsis: When Bob, Denise and Maggie’s elderly father, receives his terminal cancer diagnosis, they encourage him to prepare his end-of-life plan so there’s no misunderstanding of what he wants or doesn’t want. But Bob is not having any part of it even though his doctor is encouraging him to prepare. Throw in some family dynamics, disagreements and resentments, plus a healthy dose of stubbornness, and the scene changes dramatically when Bob is hospitalized.
Actor Gretchen Douma (far left) joins the Grief Dialogues cast in the role of the doctor. (Left to Right) Meg McLynn, Joanne Burger, and Tom Fraser return in their roles of Denise, Maggie and Bob respectively.
Bonnie Bizzell is Honoring Choices Pacific Northwest’s Community Engagement Liaison and Program Manager. For the past three years, she expanded opportunities for individuals to talk about future health care decisions by helping organizations build capacity, own expertise, and invite conversations. Bonnie is certified in the Respecting Choices model as an Instructor and Faculty; she has a Master of Business in Change Management and a Master of Education.
“Honoring Choices” is written by Grief Dialogues Founder and Chief Playwright Elizabeth Coplan.
The play “Honoring Choices” was commissioned by Honoring Choices PNW, a joint initiative between the Washington State Hospital Association and Washington State Medical Association and was first presented at their annual conference in February 2020. The play was again performed, this time on ZOOM with COVID edits, for the Funeral Consumers Alliance Bi-Annual Conference September 2020.
Honoring Choices PNW is a comprehensive initiative that uses a variety of approaches, such as an advance care planning program, community engagement, physician education, advocacy, and a central repository.
HCPNW helps the public make informed choices about end-of-life care. We help health care organizations and community groups discuss, record and honor people’s end-of-life choices.
We are a philanthropic endeavor so all who want to participate can.
