N E W S L E T T E R

 

May 2008

 

The Story of Hospice

 

In England in the 1940s a young woman entered Oxford University with little focus. She had no idea what to do with her life. But she soon came under the influence of a colorful professor of English, a writer with a gift, named C. S. Lewis.

 

She became a Christian through much of his influence. She left Oxford, against the advice of friends and family, and began to study nursing. After five more years of rigorous training, she was certified as a nurse.

 

Compassion for the Terminally Ill

 

But her story doesn't end there, for her questing, Christian spirit would not let her rest with the way things were. You see, she ended up working on a cancer ward in a London hospital. Gradually, she came to realize that most of the doctors ignored the patients who were deemed terminally ill. As a result she watched many of them die virtually alone.

 

Greatly troubled she felt that Christian compassion needed to be expressed to these patients in a visible way. She approached the hospital administration with an idea she had for surrounding those dying of cancer with friends and loved ones during their last days, rather than isolating them in sterile rooms with strangers. Her radical ideas were quickly rejected.

 

But undaunted, she decided to enroll in medical school to try to make a difference even though she , 33 years old, would not graduate until she was 39.

 

Coming to America

 

This she did and later a movement soon grew around the ideas that made it possible for dying patients to live their days in a setting of love and support.

 

Cicely Saunders, out of Christian compassion and a sense of calling to help in a specific way, began this movement in England in the 1950s. It later moved to the Americas and is now used everywhere and in every town.

 

The Hospice Movement

 

 It is called the Hospice Movement, and it draws its inspiration from Jesus' own passion and compassion for his children -- "as a hen gathers her brood under her wings."

 

My prayer is that God will continually come to us in new ways and in fresh images, so that more Cicely Saunderses among us can be moved and inspired to take risks to join in God's compassion for his children. Amen. Adapted from Walking To - Walking With, Glenn E. Ludwig, CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, 1994.

 

Hope Hospice in Rochester

 

Hope Hospice started in Rochester, Indiana on April 14, 1995 with Brenda Purkey as one of the original directors. Hope Hospice is a nonprofit, public benefit organization. As your neighbors, we want to help you if and when you need help. For more information call Brenda today at (574) 224-4673.

 

If you would like to learn more about Hope Hospice, how you may volunteer, how you may make a donation, or how the hospice program may serve you, please contact:

 

H O P E   H O S P I C E

Brenda K. Purkey, RN, CHPN

420 Main Street, Rochester, IN 46975

Telephone: (574) 224-4673 – Fax: (574) 224-4444

E-Mail: hospice@rtcol.com