Initiatives
Transforming Lives Through Service
Advocacy in Action: Turning Love into Legacy
At EDNA’s Love, Inc., we know that meaningful change requires more than good intentions — it demands bold, persistent advocacy. Every day, we work to amplify the voices of those too often overlooked and to advance solutions that strengthen our communities.
Through strategic partnerships, targeted community engagement, and purposeful outreach, EDNA’s Love, Inc. actively champions expanded access to:
- higher education,
- increased blood cancer awareness, and
- stronger support for the men and women who have served our nation.
Our advocacy turns concern into action and compassion into measurable impact, but lasting change cannot happen alone!
Stand with us. Raise your voice. Take action today.
Join EDNA’s Love, Inc. as we advocate with urgency, purpose, and love — transforming awareness into policy and hope into real-world results.
The Edna G. Neal Palliative Care Act
Compassion. Dignity. Access for Every Maryland Family.
Every day in Maryland, families face the overwhelming reality of serious illness — cancer, sickle cell disease, heart disease, advanced lung disease, neurological disorders, and other life-limiting conditions. Too often, patients endure unnecessary pain, emotional distress, and fragmented care at the very moment they need coordinated, compassionate support the most.
The Edna G. Neal Palliative Care Act ensures that no Marylander faces serious illness without access to high-quality, patient-centered palliative care.
What This Legislation Will Do
This landmark legislation will:
- Guarantee access to dedicated palliative care programs in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice facilities, and long-term care facilities statewide.
- Ensure patients are informed of palliative care options at diagnosis, during treatment planning, and at hospital admission.
- Require insurance coverage for comprehensive palliative care services — including physician services, nursing care, pain and symptom management, counseling, home-based care, social work, and family support.
- Prevent financial barriers by prohibiting insurers from imposing higher copays, coinsurance, or deductibles for palliative care than for other comparable medical services.
- Protect patient choice, ensuring palliative care is available alongside curative or life-prolonging treatment — not just at end of life.
Why It Matters
Palliative care is not about giving up; it is about improving quality of life. Research consistently shows that palliative care:
- Reduces pain and symptom burden
- Supports mental and emotional health
- Strengthens care coordination
- Reduces avoidable hospitalizations
- Lowers overall healthcare costs
- Honors cultural values and personal dignity
Yet access across Maryland remains inconsistent. Geography, income, and insurance status should never determine whether a family receives compassionate care. This legislation establishes palliative care as a standard of care, not a privilege.
Addressing Health Inequalities
Serious illness does not discriminate — and access to relief, dignity, and support should not either. The Edna G. Neal Palliative Care Act advances health equity by ensuring that every Maryland resident, regardless of age, race, income, or insurance type, can access comprehensive palliative services.
- This is about fairness.
- This is about compassion.
- This is about doing what is right.
The Proposed Bill
The Edna G. Neal Palliative Care Act seeks to expand access to compassionate, patient-centered palliative care for individuals living with serious illness. This legislation focuses on improving care coordination, increasing public awareness, and ensuring families and caregivers receive the support they need.
Explore the proposed bill to learn how this Act advances equitable access to quality palliative care in our communities.
Families can’t afford to wait. Stand with patients, caregivers, and families across Maryland by adding your name in support of the Edna G. Neal Palliative Care Act—vital legislation that strengthens advocacy and support for those who need it most. Help ensure compassionate, person-centered care reaches every community in our state.
Together, we can make compassionate care the standard—not the exception.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead