Sandy Chen Stokes, RN, MSN
CACCC Founder
15 years ago, we began to gradually remove barriers to an old cultural taboo regarding not talking about death and dying and helping our community prepare for the inevitable – so that families could avoid much of the trauma and regret that could accompany our own death or the death of a loved one.
We did that by educating our community about the importance of advance care planning. CACCC’s healthcare partners helped train our volunteers and in turn we were able to replicate this work and train others, so we could help more people in the Chinese community and CACCC educated the healthcare professionals who served them. Our coalition model has brought us angels from the Chinese community and so many partner organizations throughout the United States, Taiwan, and China.
I am especially pleased with the success of CACCC’s Heart to Heart® Cafés and the Heart to Heart® cards, which are now being used in Chinese communities, hospitals, and hospices worldwide to make it possible for Chinese people facing the end of life to die with dignity and respect.
During the pandemic, all our education and training activities are conducted virtually. Going virtual has expanded our community outreach: new volunteers and community members are joining CACCC from all over the world. We are busier than ever during these times of uncertainty that we are focused on ACP. Many are taking this opportunity to complete an advance health care directive so loved ones and health providers will clearly know what they want and do not want when the time comes, as well as designate the best person to speak for them when they are unable to speak for themselves.
My deepest appreciation to our event committee members and special thanks to Dr. Cynthia Pan, Dr. Esther Luo, Dr. Gary Lee, Roy Remer, and Teresa Cheng for their expertise that makes our virtual events so worthwhile.
There are not enough words to thank CACCC Board Co-Chairs Cindy Wang and Alex Tsao, and our Director, Shirley Pan, whose leadership and contributions have made it possible for me to retire from operational duties to concentrate on end of life education.
And there is a special place in my heart for all those volunteers, partner organizations, sponsors and donors who have been with us for most of these 15 years. You were with us through the good times and the challenging times. As Erma Bombeck said, “Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another.”