In 1973, in response to work being done by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in the area of death and dying, Dr. Balfour Mount, a urologic-cancer surgeon, began to explore the needs of dying patients at Montreal鈥檚 Royal Victoria Hospital. After a visit to St. Christopher鈥檚 Hospice (founded by Dame Cicely Saunders) in London, England, Dr. Mount began a similar service for the dying at Montreal鈥檚 Royal Victoria Hospital. With the development of this new service in 1974, Dr. Mount coined the term 鈥減alliative care鈥� to highlight the notion of cloaking or protecting those living with terminal illness, with attention to quality of life up until the moment of death. In 1976, Dr.听Mount听and his colleagues hosted the first international conference on palliative care in听North America. The Congress on听Care for the Terminally Ill has subsequently become the world renowned听and听has been hosted biennially at 海角社区 since 1976. Thanks to the generous support of Mrs. Kappy Flanders, in 1994, Dr. Mount became the first Eric M. Flanders Chair and founding Director of 海角社区 Programs in Palliative Care (Palliative Care 海角社区).
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Since its inception, Palliative Care 海角社区 (PCM) has provided important leadership and advocacy nationally and internationally. Its members played a key role in establishing the first Senate Committee on Palliative Care, in developing the 海角社区 Quality of Life Questionnaire (SR Cohen et al, 1997; translated into 15 languages and used internationally), in implementing a specialized medical residency in palliative medicine, and in uniting diverse palliative care services in various 海角社区-affiliated teaching hospitals. Under the leadership of Dr. Bernard Lapointe (the Eric M. Flanders Chair from 2009-2021), PCM played an active role establishing palliative care as a medical subspecialty in Canada and provided expert counsel to both the Quebec Government Select Committee on Dying with Dignity and the Canadian Parliamentary Committee on Palliative and Compassionate Care.
Dr. Justin Sanders assumed the role of Kappy and Eric M. Flanders Chair of Palliative Care in 2021. He established the Centre for Relationships in Serious Illness (CERES) to understand and promote authentic healing relationships in serious illness care through rigorous social science, mixed-methods, and implementation of research. In 2023, he established the Interprofessional 海角社区 Program in Advanced Communication Skills as a multi-level, 海角社区-wide initiative to improve the dissemination and implementation of high-quality communication skills training. In 2024, PCM initiated the 海角社区 Palliative Care National Grand Rounds series, with support from 10 local hospital foundations, and with the goal of disseminating cutting edge innovations, research, and ideas beyond the walls of the academic institution to places where palliative care grand rounds may be less available.
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