Compassion & Choices presented Dolores Huerta Wednesday afternoon with the inaugural award that bears her name to honor her commitment and efforts to improve end-of-life care for the Latino community.
The iconic civil rights activist received the organization’s Dolores Huerta Mission and Vision Award during a reception in Sacramento. The award will be presented in future years to honor other recipients who reflect her commitment to this mission.
“Dolores’ powerful voice ensures that more Latinos are educated about the importance of advance care planning and the full breadth of end-of-life options,”said Kim Callinan, president & CEO of Compassion & Choices. “Dolores also plays a critical role in expanding available end-of-life options for Latinos and all communities through the passage of medical aid in dying laws. It is a true honor to be working side-by-side with an icon like Dolores.”
Kim Callinan and Dolores Huerta
Dolores has served on Compassion & Choices’ Latino Leadership Council, a group of community leaders and experts who advise the organization on ways to improve access to equitable end-of-life care. Her perspective, experience and expertise have proven instrumental in reframing what end-of-life care means to Latino communities, including changing perceptions of hospice and palliative care and normalizing intimate conversations among families about death and dying.
“Dolores is helping us normalize conversations about death, which is never an easy topic for anyone,” said Maria Otero, Latino Engagement Director for Compassion & Choices. “She has helped us inform communities so they are empowered to make informed end-of-life healthcare decisions and can advocate for themselves and their loved ones.”
Dolores’s advocacy was also critical in the passage of the 2015 End of Life Option Act in California and the Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act in her native state of New Mexico in 2021. She endorsed the compassionate bills with editorials and videos in English and Spanish about her mother’s painful death from cancer. She also joined Compassion & Choices, or its sister organization, Compassion & Choices Action Network, in news conferences, multi-state campaigns, rallies in the hot sun with terminally-ill Californians and meetings with reluctant legislators, particularly Catholic and Latino ones, who often opposed medical-aid in-dying legislation, Ironically, both national and state polls showing most Catholic and Latino voters support this end-of-life care option.
About the Dolores Huerta Mission and Vision Award
The award, established in 2021, recognizes leaders who have dedicated their efforts to Compassion & Choices’ mission of improving care, expanding options, and ensuring that everyone can chart their own end-of-life journey according to their values and priorities. Each recipient will also be committed to a vision of a diverse, equitable and inclusive movement and recognizes that everyone should have access to a patient-directed end-of-life experience regardless of their ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or age. Future recipients will be selected by the Compassion & Choices leadership team.
Compassion & Choices
Media Contacts
Michael Cavaiola
National Director of Marketing & Communications
[email protected]
Phone: (480) 622 4427
Patricia A. González-Portillo
Senior National Latino Media Director
[email protected]
(323) 819 0310
Mail contributions directly to:
Compassion & Choices Gift Processing Center
PO Box 485
Etna, NH 03750
