"You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life." Words spoken from Dr. Cicely Saunders, the founder of hospice.Dr. Saunders (June 22, 1918-July 14, 2005) began her university schooling in 1938 at Oxford University in England. Due to World War II, Saunders diverted her college career to become a nurse. (Nursing was an "on the job" learned trade back then). Through her work as a nurse, Saunders became a social worker (another career that didn't require a formal education back then).
In 1948 when she was working as a social worker she met a Polish man by the name David Tasma. Tasma was dying from inoperable cancer. Through her conversations and visits with Tasma, Saunders realized the need for a great change in the way dying patients were cared for. Because dying patients were considered beyond help, they were often left alone, much of the time in great physical, spiritual, psychological, and social pain. When Tasma passed away, he left 500 pounds to Cicley Saunders. With his gift Saunders realized her mission was to better the quality of life for dying patients. She would set out to establish better pain management and encourage holistic care.
Saunders was advised that if she was truly compelled to care for the terminally ill that she should become a doctor because no one would listen to a nurse. Following her friends advice she enrolled in medical school at the age of 33. She earned her medical degree in 1957 and became the first doctor to devote thier career to dying patients. Soon after recieving her doctorate she got right to work on devising better pain manangement methods. Through her work she learned to adminster morphine before a patient appeared in pain and to continue with timed doses as a way to "stay ahead of the pain." This method is used by most doctors today.
In 1967, Dr. Saunders opened the first hospice center in a suberb of London, St. Christopher's Hospice. This soon launched a worldwide movement to provide compassionate care for the dying. The first US hospice was opened in 1971 in Conneticut. There are currently 3,200 hospices helping 900,000 patients in the US alone.
Dr. Cicely Saunders died at St. Christopher's Hospice in 2005. Her legacy lives on throughout the thousands of hospices worldwide. Her life has impacted not only the medical world, but also thousands of patients and families. She is a medical pioneer and a compassionate hero.
Reference:
Field, Barbara. "Science Hero: Dame Cicely Saunders." Myhero.com. 23 June 2006. 1 February 2007. < http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Cicely_Saunders_06>.
Original photo obtained at <http://www.cicelysaundersfoundation.org/>.
1 comment:
This topic is a great topic to choose for a research paper because of the controversy surrounding it in today’s society. Your profession is one that you confront this controversy on a daily basis and so you obviously have a strong opinion about it. You will need to be careful not to make the paper to one-sided, but it is great that you are passionate about what you do and what you’re going to be writing about. I think this will lead to a very interesting paper. Dr. Cicely Saunders is the perfect person to include in your ‘figures’ paper for class and for the final. It seems that she made many strides in the field and deserves credit for what she did. Nice work!
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