Celebration of Life - Cdn Hospice Palliative Care Memorial Service

AGM & Conference
Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association
Celebration of Life (Canadian Memorial Service) October 26, 2008
Dr David Morrison

Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening at this important and sensitive celebration. I am humbled and honoured. May our evening reflect hope, joy, celebration and good memories.

If there is one verse of scripture which captures best many of those whom we remember, it is the description of a gracious woman in the Hebrew Bible, in the final chapter of the book of Proverbs (31:25). It says: "Strength and dignity are her clothing and she laughs at the time to come." ‘La force et la dignité est son v tement, et elle se rit du jour venir.’

[After listening to the feminist strength of Sister Elizabeth Davis’ opening speech yesterday, the female gender of the Wisdom literature in Scripture reminds me of one of many end-of-life stories .... Three male professors died in a car crash and before God would let them into heaven (bed shortage?), God gave them a chance to come back to life as anything they wanted.... The first prof said... I want to come back as myself, but 10 times smarter than the Dean. So God made him 10 times smarter. The second prof said ... I want to be better than that Scientist, make me a 100 times smarter. So, God made him 100 times smarter. The last prof decided he would be the best, so he said, "God, make me better than both of them, make me 1,000 times smarter. So God made him a woman.]

Strength, dignity and happiness/laughter -- three great gifts which we honour and celebrate tonight - in the lives of those with whom we have worked, those who have died and whom we honour. We have gained much strength from those who have gifted our lives, whom we celebrate tonight. Those of us here remember the lives of our friends and patients ... and how we heal too. In Andrea’s sensitive words from her poem, The Wave, read this evening ... "Faint hope feathers it’s way into my heart. Can this mean I am healing? .... The message of healing, the promise of a return to joy and aliveness." How all of us need to hear those words.

It is interesting to be back in this historic church. Many years ago I was the Rector of this Parish of St Paul’s. It was large, vibrant ... and with the usual number of seniors and ill in addition to lots of young people. It was a town/gown experiment ... as I retained my post as university professor. In my first year as Rector, there were 17 deaths in this parish. I held many of those as they died. It was 1980. We were just learning the power of morphine - which could keep people relatively pain free while retaining cogency. Yet, those who were dying were kept in the periphery of the hospital. All we could do was bring comfort ... or, as the meaning of that word indicates ... com forté - to be strong with. Many of those were teachers of strength, dignity and happiness, whom I cannot forget. They and many others since then, have showed such strength.

Many of you are nurses, or have nursed friends in palliation and hospice settings. That dynamic nursing symbol, Florence Nightingale, was not an angel, you'll be happy to know. She was a formidably obstinate woman. Her chief aim was to create a climate in medical care that was thoroughly professional. For her, professionalism was whatever served not only the physical health but the dignity of those being cared for. She saw unspeakable conditions in the hospitals of the Crimea. She rebelled not simply against the waste of life. She fought against the offence to life represented by the squalor of contemporary practice. You could say that the modern profession of nursing and palliative care was born out of a passion for human dignity - not just the sense of a practical job to be done. She lived the full conviction that what people require in situations where they are helpless and even dying is respect for their dignity. ... and this no less than medical skill. And our friends who have died needed nothing more nor less than dignity.

This summer a close friend was visiting from the west coast of Canada. A medical doctor, she had spent times volunteering with Mother Teresa ... and we were talking about her diary while there. Florence Nightingale and the more recent Mother Teresa took it for granted that the level of human respect and dignity given to any patient is the same whether they are rich or poor, young or old, likely or unlikely to recover; because they stand on the same ground before their creator. And palliative and hospice care exists in the way it does because this truth has remained constant. Sickness and helplessness are not only matters of bodily incapacity. The "self" is what is ill or hurt or restricted, not simply a set of bodily functions and processes. It is about the service of human dignity. Think of those known to you, your friends, your patients, and perhaps even colleagues ... and as tears come into our hearts, we think of human dignity and love. As we remember our friends and patients, and hold the standard of human dignity, we know that this aspect of life becomes more and more central. We appreciate the work of our Dr Harvey Chochinov and dignity therapy.

It is not simply a western practice. This past June, I had the occasion to again work with leaders of world religions for a week of discussion on human rights and human dignity, at the Institut Ecumenique on the outskirts of Geneva. There were only four of us from Europe or North America. Most religions of the world were represented ... even a Taoist from my favourite country of China, speaking also about Confucianism. Once again, as has always been my experience ... we worked, played and prayed together with full respect. The dignity theme is picked up in our palliative care work, but so also is human rights... and we now have international declarations on the human right to palliative care and pain control. I shall be at the European Palliative Care meetings next June, where this international theme will be reinforced. It emerges in international cancer control. As we remember those with whom we have been so honoured to journey, I never forget that the best of palliative care and pain control is not out of our kindness ... it is their human right based in human dignity.

Specifically in the health care professions, a growing number of people now say that the simply personal and relational skills of healing are squeezed out in training and seriously undervalued in favour of mechanistic skills. We diminish those whom we honour this evening if we participate in the damaging shift away from the fundamental commitment to the service of human dignity.

"Strength and dignity are her clothing...then laughter and happiness....Of course, the laughter of the book of Proverbs goes deeper than a good joke or a witty reply. "She laughs at the time to come": such laughter reflects an attitude of confident hope in the face of adversity and the unpredictable challenges of life. The other reading tonight came from the Beatitudes of the Christian scripture. Usually they are rendered in english as "Blessed are...." Really, a better translation from the original Greek makarios is "Happy" ... for happiness and blessedness are the same thing. Heureux les affligés, car ils seront consolés! Happy are those who are afflicted. They will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 They will be comforted.... comforté.... strong with.... the afflicted will be made strong with those who travel with them.

This evening, we all have some person in mind as we reflect. Perhaps many more than one. This summer it seemed that several died who were both friends and patients. Either patients who became friends, but a few this summer of friends who became patients. You know the pain. There is one woman who represents many ... I performed her wedding right here in this church in 1981. She was also a friend. They lived in central Canada. Her husband was to begin a new medical practice after an army career ... he discovered his cancer...he died of cancer and she was his caregiver. She moved backed home, married again, and continued her career as an outstanding graphic artist. She did work for Dr Rob Rutledge and me, which was shown in many places and other countries. She was doing work for our own cancer centre this past year. Out of the blue, without warning for this young, healthy, talented friend ... an aggressive cancer. She called immediately, of course. Complications arose, and she died within a couple of months. Again, from her and from many others we honour tonight there was strength, dignity and even a laughter of happiness.

Happiness lives for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people like you, who have touched their lives. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. Happiness or blessedness comes through doors you didn't even know you left open. As we remember those for whom we have grieved.... May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy, and enough money to buy gifts!! Amen.

Run For the Cure

RUN FOR THE CURE.
Many can remember, and that not long ago, when a survivor or family member wouldn’t even say the word "cancer." It was the "c" word. Breast wasn’t in the health lexicon in that regard. What an inspirational leap has been taken, when communities can face this bewildering and widespread disease head on.

Yesterday more than 170,000 Canadians from 55 communities participated in this huge volunteer led event. The 17 year success continues, with about $28.5 million raised. The CIBC sponsored Run for the Cure raises money - AND Awareness and Hope. With its pink high profile autumn action, breast cancer activity continues to support patients, survivors and families. Mystery and fear lessen. Comfort and close relations bind and build.

The local and regional impact on support groups is significant. In the Atlantic region of Canada, the strong weekly postings of the Atlantic Breast Cancer Network www.abcn.org reinforce small community activities and support groups. I encourage that site to groups everywhere. Only a small percentage of breast cancers occur in men, so does all this involve males? I think so, not only as an advisor to a breast cancer network, but as an invited participant in discussions on women’s cancers. As with any cancer, but particularly perhaps with breast cancer, men as partners and spouses need to be part of the support and education plan. This isn’t the time to go into the psychological pain many women suffer in their relationships. Public events like the Run help the discussion and awareness development, immensely. Those are visible spin-offs.
The $ funds raised through this event are directed to high-quality research in all areas of breast cancer including education and prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and post-care support. We can only hope that there is a full transparency of where the funds are directed.

Yesterday (but not at the Run), a woman came close and whispered in my ear "the doctor told me this week that I’m cancer free ... I still haven’t told my dad I had cancer, so we can’t share the good news with him." She knew how happy I would be ... we have worked together for the past few years... at the beginning I didn’t think she would find health again. Still sad that she can’t talk about it. That’s changing and her story is one of thousands of good news stories in this country, because of the ongoing fight against breast cancer. Thanks to all participants and organizers, here and around the world.