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EXCELLENCE IN END-OF-LIFE CARE AWARD TO BILL AND JUDITH MOYERS
Couple Honored for PBS Series, "On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying"

Americans for Better Care of the Dying (ABCD) will present its Excellence in End-of-Life Care Award to Bill and Judith Moyers for achievements in advancing public awareness of end-of-life issues with their series, On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying. The Moyers are being honored for their contribution to public education and for their commitment to creating open dialogue and community programs to improve end-of-life care.

On Our Own Terms: Moyers On Dying, a six-hour series, aired in September 2000. The program shifted public attention from physician-assisted suicide to a comprehensive look at end-of-life issues, including pain and symptom management, advance care planning, and community support. The program debuted to 17 million viewers, sparked the creation of 250 community coalitions, and eventually reached 274 million people.

ABCD President Joanne Lynn, M.D., will present the award at a ceremony on Sunday, October 28, at the Congressional Club in Bethesda, MD. "It is such a gift to live at this time and in this place, where we will mostly grow to be quite old. But within a decade, we face the challenge of having many older, sicker people. We need a dedication to the proposition that we each deserve a good death, and the Moyers' series helped to show just how communities and caregivers can improve care," Lynn said.

New York Magazine critic John Leonard wrote of the series, "Pain, fear, choice, dignity, a death of one's own, and a friend against the night-these are the deepest chords, and On Our Own Terms touches all of them....I can't tell you whether people just happen to behave better when Moyers shows up, or maybe we see people at their best because we're looking at them through his eyes. Either way, his television dignifies the medium, and his poetry needs to become policy."

ABCD aims to make social and political changes that will lead to enduring, efficient, and effective reform. The organization works to educate the public, clinicians, policymakers, and business leaders about which changes work, and how to apply them in local settings. For information about the event, please contact ABCD. ABCD is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving end-of-life care through social, cultural, and policy changes.