Florence Wald
Encyclopedia
Florence Wald was an American nurse, former Dean of Yale School of Nursing
, and largely credited as "the mother of the American hospice
movement".
on April 19, 1917, in New York City. Due to a chronic respiratory ailment, she spent several months as a child in a hospital, This hospitalization experience led her to pursue a career in nursing. Wald received a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College
in 1938 and an M.N. from Yale School of Nursing
in 1941. After World War II, she became a staff nurse with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York
, a research assistant at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
, and was an instructor at the Rutgers University
school of nursing. She received a second master's degree from Yale University in mental health nursing in 1956 and became an instructor at the school's the nursing program. She became Dean of Yale School of Nursing in 1959, after being named to the position on an acting basis the previous year.
Wald's interest in the care of the terminally ill was piqued in 1963 when she attended a lecture at Yale University presented by the English physician Cicely Saunders
, an innovator in the field who later created St. Christopher's Hospice, the world's first purpose-built hospice. Dr. Saunders spoke that day about her methods of using palliative care
for terminally ill cancer patients, with the intention of allowing those in the latest stages of their disease to focus on their personal relationships and prepare themselves for death. An "indelible impression" was made by Dr. Saunders, with Wald noting that "until then I had thought nurses were the only people troubled by how a terminal illness was treated".
Following the Saunders lecture, Wald worked to update the Nursing School's curriculum to encourage students to focus on the patient and their family, and to keep all of them involved in the patient's care. She left her position as Dean in 1966, with plans to develop a hospice in the United States similar to the one Saunders was developing in England. Though she stepped down as Dean, Wald retained a faculty position as a research associate and as a member of the clinical nursing faculty, and was promoted to a full professor there in 1980. Despite the financial impact on their family, she continued her goal of building a program and visited England twice with her husband to visit Dr. Saunders. After St. Christopher's Hospice opened in 1967, Wald spent worked there for a month in 1969.
Her husband left his engineering form and enrolled at Columbia University
in 1971 with a major in hospital planning. It was his master's degree thesis that provided the framework for the Connecticut Hospice. Wald conducted a two-year research program studying how terminally ill patients fared at home or in a healthcare facility, and tracked how patients and their families felt throughout the process.
After returning to the United States, she organized a team of doctors, clergy and nurses to investigate the needs of dying patients. In 1974, she, along with two pediatricians and a Yale medical center chaplain
, founded the first hospice in the United States at the Connecticut Hospice, located in Branford, Connecticut
. Initially the program provided home care, and had its first inpatient location in 1980, a 44-bed facility in Branford. Disagreements had been brewing within the board about her vision for the hospice program, and she was forced to resign shortly after its opening.
Well into her 80s, Wald traveled to prisons in Connecticut performing a research project on behalf of the National Prison Hospice Association, an organization founded in 1991 and based in Boulder, Colorado
. Wald served on the organization's board of directors. Wald worked on considering ways to make hospice care available to those incarcerated in the prison system, including training inmates to become hospice volunteers for dying inmates or arranging for outside hospice care for inmates granted compassionate leave given their medical condition. Wald noted that training prisoners to provide such care would assist the terminally ill and help rehabilitate the volunteers at almost no cost to the prisons.
Other hospice programs were created building on Wald's innovation at Branford. By 1980, Medicaid
began to pay for care provided at a hospice, which led to a sharp rise in such facilities. By the time of her death in 2008, there were more than 3,000 hospice programs in the United States, serving some 900,000 patients annually.
. Henry Wald was a participant in a study she was conducting, and shortly thereafter proposed that they marry, an offer that she declined.
In 1958, Henry Wald read a newspaper announcement that she had been appointed Dean of the Yale School of Nursing. Henry Wald was a widower with two young children, and after reconnecting the two married a year later.
She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1996 from Yale University
, Wald was introduced as "the mother of the American hospice movement".
Yale School of Nursing
Established in 1923 in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S., Yale School of Nursing has become a leading school of nursing in the United States with a reputation for excellence in teaching, research and clinical practice. The school is ranked in the top ten graduate schools of nursing in the United States...
, and largely credited as "the mother of the American hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
movement".
Biography
Wald was born as Florence Sophie Schorske in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on April 19, 1917, in New York City. Due to a chronic respiratory ailment, she spent several months as a child in a hospital, This hospitalization experience led her to pursue a career in nursing. Wald received a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
in 1938 and an M.N. from Yale School of Nursing
Yale School of Nursing
Established in 1923 in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S., Yale School of Nursing has become a leading school of nursing in the United States with a reputation for excellence in teaching, research and clinical practice. The school is ranked in the top ten graduate schools of nursing in the United States...
in 1941. After World War II, she became a staff nurse with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Visiting Nurse Service of New York is the largest and oldest not-for-profit home health care provider in the United States.Lillian Wald, the founder of VNSNY, began making home nursing visits in 1893....
, a research assistant at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, often known as P&S, is a graduate school of Columbia University that is located on the health sciences campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan...
, and was an instructor at the Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
school of nursing. She received a second master's degree from Yale University in mental health nursing in 1956 and became an instructor at the school's the nursing program. She became Dean of Yale School of Nursing in 1959, after being named to the position on an acting basis the previous year.
Wald's interest in the care of the terminally ill was piqued in 1963 when she attended a lecture at Yale University presented by the English physician Cicely Saunders
Cicely Saunders
Dame Cicely Mary Saunders, was a prominent Anglican, nurse, physician and writer, involved with many international universities...
, an innovator in the field who later created St. Christopher's Hospice, the world's first purpose-built hospice. Dr. Saunders spoke that day about her methods of using palliative care
Palliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
for terminally ill cancer patients, with the intention of allowing those in the latest stages of their disease to focus on their personal relationships and prepare themselves for death. An "indelible impression" was made by Dr. Saunders, with Wald noting that "until then I had thought nurses were the only people troubled by how a terminal illness was treated".
Following the Saunders lecture, Wald worked to update the Nursing School's curriculum to encourage students to focus on the patient and their family, and to keep all of them involved in the patient's care. She left her position as Dean in 1966, with plans to develop a hospice in the United States similar to the one Saunders was developing in England. Though she stepped down as Dean, Wald retained a faculty position as a research associate and as a member of the clinical nursing faculty, and was promoted to a full professor there in 1980. Despite the financial impact on their family, she continued her goal of building a program and visited England twice with her husband to visit Dr. Saunders. After St. Christopher's Hospice opened in 1967, Wald spent worked there for a month in 1969.
Her husband left his engineering form and enrolled at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1971 with a major in hospital planning. It was his master's degree thesis that provided the framework for the Connecticut Hospice. Wald conducted a two-year research program studying how terminally ill patients fared at home or in a healthcare facility, and tracked how patients and their families felt throughout the process.
After returning to the United States, she organized a team of doctors, clergy and nurses to investigate the needs of dying patients. In 1974, she, along with two pediatricians and a Yale medical center chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
, founded the first hospice in the United States at the Connecticut Hospice, located in Branford, Connecticut
Branford, Connecticut
-Landmarks and attractions:Branford has six historic districts that are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places . These include buildings in Federal, Arts and Crafts, and Queen Anne styles of architecture...
. Initially the program provided home care, and had its first inpatient location in 1980, a 44-bed facility in Branford. Disagreements had been brewing within the board about her vision for the hospice program, and she was forced to resign shortly after its opening.
Well into her 80s, Wald traveled to prisons in Connecticut performing a research project on behalf of the National Prison Hospice Association, an organization founded in 1991 and based in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
. Wald served on the organization's board of directors. Wald worked on considering ways to make hospice care available to those incarcerated in the prison system, including training inmates to become hospice volunteers for dying inmates or arranging for outside hospice care for inmates granted compassionate leave given their medical condition. Wald noted that training prisoners to provide such care would assist the terminally ill and help rehabilitate the volunteers at almost no cost to the prisons.
Other hospice programs were created building on Wald's innovation at Branford. By 1980, Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
began to pay for care provided at a hospice, which led to a sharp rise in such facilities. By the time of her death in 2008, there were more than 3,000 hospice programs in the United States, serving some 900,000 patients annually.
Personal
She first met her future husband Henry Wald while she was serving as a research technician with the United States Army Signal Corps during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Henry Wald was a participant in a study she was conducting, and shortly thereafter proposed that they marry, an offer that she declined.
In 1958, Henry Wald read a newspaper announcement that she had been appointed Dean of the Yale School of Nursing. Henry Wald was a widower with two young children, and after reconnecting the two married a year later.
She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1996 from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Wald was introduced as "the mother of the American hospice movement".
Death
Florence Wald died at age 91 on November 8, 2008 at her home in Connecticut. The exact cause of death has not been reported.Sources
- Friedrich, M.J. (1999) "Hospice Care in the United States: A Conversation With Florence S. Wald". JAMA. 281: 1683–1685.
- History and contributions of Yale School of Nursing
- Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame
- The Hospice Experiment