Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
January 17, 2001
Aging With Dignity to open office in Washington
Organization promotes alternatives to assisted suicide and euthanasia
When he ran Florida's $4 billion state social services agency, Jim Towey saw the neglect experienced by children in the foster care system.
Now, five years after establishing Tallahassee-based Aging With Dignity, Towey said he has witnessed much the same problem at the other end of the life spectrum.
"No one is claiming any responsibility for these people, who are lonely and looking for affirmation," said Towey, as he prepared to move his family to the nation's capital in order to replicate at the national level his advocacy work on behalf of Florida's elderly.
With a three-year, $750,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Towey plans to work with state and national organizations and businesses around the country in promoting quality end-of-life care and alternatives to the euthanasia movement.
A native of Florida and a September recipient of the "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" Medal from Pope John Paul II, Towey has worked principally to educate the public about the needs of the elderly and their caregivers.
After collecting living wills from several other states, as well as living wills offered by the American Association of Retired Persons and the American Bar Association, Towey and his staff helped draft a six-page living will, called Five Wishes.
Five Wishes allows people to choose someone to act in their place as a health care surrogate when they are unable to make their own health care choices. The will also spells out the kind of medical treatment a person wants or doesn't want and includes choices about relationships with family and loved ones.
Aging With Dignity has distributed more than 500,000 copies of Five Wishes in Florida and it is being used in 35 other states.
The new grant money will help Towey reach a younger audience - especially those with aging parents themselves - by going to businesses and helping them learn about Five Wishes for their employees.
"They can roll it in with the insurance and pension discussions with their employees," he said. "This gives them a discussion tool."
That there are an estimated 150 million Americans who don't have advance directives or a good understanding of ethics and end-of-life issues and it has created the tolerance for assisted suicide proponents like Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
"The more people know about their rights and that their pain can be managed they will not be so open to euthanasia," Towey said. "The great majority of Americans don't plan ahead."
While maintaining his staff in Tallahassee as a distribution point for Five Wishes, Towey will tackle the advocacy work in Washington. He will also move to hire an executive director.
No stranger to the Beltway, Towey worked for four years with U.S. Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, R-Ore., as legislative director and legal counsel. He returned to his home state in 1991 to work with then-Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles as secretary of Florida's Health and Rehabilitative Services Department.
He also served as Mother Teresa's legal counsel in the U.S. for 12 years and continues to provide pro-bono legal counsel to her organization, the Missionaries of Charity.
"Obviously Mother Teresa left an imprint on my life, but Five Wishes has appealed to all different faiths," Towey said. "A lot of why we are going to Washington is to combat this pervasive attitude in society that someone who is disabled or old is less valuable than someone who is 25 and has great health. That is the danger of a consumer society, but it is pervasive."
The election of Texas Gov. George W. Bush as the next U.S. president may bring stronger opposition to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, according to Towey.
But until Americans make hospice care available to more people and help them understand their rights, there will continue to be broad support for physician-assisted suicide, even among some Catholics, he said. - CNS
