THE HISTORY OF HOSPICE PALLIATIVE CARE
The creation of the “modern-day Hospice” is credited to Dame Cicely Saunders.
In the 1950s in England Saunders realized that managing pain was not enough, and that there were social, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the dying process that went unaddressed.
St. Christopher’s Hospice, a sixty-bed facility for the terminally ill, opened in July 1967 in Sydenham, London, England. With this first modern hospice, the specialty of care for the terminally ill was born. In Canada, the approach began differently. Instead, the hospice palliative care movement began with the creation of palliative care units in a hospital setting. In 1975, a palliative care unit was opened at the St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg followed by a similar palliative care unit that was opened at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Dr. Balfour Mount, a pioneer in hospice and palliative care in Canada, used the words “palliative care” rather than the word “hospice” because from the history of early lower Canada the word “hospice” in Quebec was commonly considered a place of last resort. As a result, the terms have been used interchangeably across Canada.
To learn more about the history of hospice palliative care and end-of-life care in Canada, check out this page:
"Milestones in Hospice Palliative Care" by the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association:
https://www.chpca.ca/about-hpc/milestones-in-hospice-palliative-care/
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