Google honours Dame Cicely Saunders
22nd June 2018
Copyright photograph by Derek Bayes.
Today Google Doodle honours Dame Cicely Saunders, saluting her many achievements and bringing her life story to millions.
Today is the 100th birthday of our founder Dame Cicely Saunders, the medical pioneer born on 22 June 1918, who revolutionised care of the dying and is recognized as the founder of the modern hospice movement.
Our President, Christopher Saunders said:
“Cicely came a long way from being a six-foot tall, shy, very intelligent girl, feeling a bit of an outsider, to being one of the very remarkable people who have changed the care of the terminally ill. She and many people who followed her lead have radically changed end of life care around the world. As Cicely insisted, practitioners go about their work in the way that suits their local conditions, And it’s still A Work in Progress: challenges remain. The need for palliative care has never been greater and is increasing rapidly. People are living longer because we’re better at tackling acute disease, the very oldest people often experience multiple chronic diseases, such as heart failure, respiratory failure and cancer. Each illness brings specific symptoms, including pain, breathlessness and fatigue. As well as physical suffering, helplessness, loneliness and marginalisation can too often become part of the final phase of life. Cicely’s medical research charity, Cicely Saunders International, enters the centenary year of her birth energised with the spirit of Cicely to meet this challenge, and make a difference just as she did, 50 years ago”.
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