On this day in 1967 Dame Cicely Saunders opened the first hospice at St Christopher’s in London. She is widely acknowledged as the founder of the modern hospice movement. She defined a new field of care that focussed on the last stages of life (palliative care). The hospice movement combined sound medicine with compassionate care.
She coined the term “total pain” to include its social, psychological and spiritual dimensions. Responding to this required a team effort, bringing together skills from medicine, chaplaincy, social work, nursing, and lay volunteers.
Lord,
we ask a blessing on all those who are being cared for in various hospices around the world.
We give thanks that people like Cicely Saunders listened to the stories of people facing death and developed a way to we care for them that recognised their full humanity.
Ease the suffering of the dying and help them find assurances of your love and care for them
Amen
By Fr Pat O'Shea - Lower Hutt
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