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Kay was born in Ottawa, went to high
school in England, and obtained her medical degree from the University of
London. Returning to Canada , she interned at Toronto General Hospital , and
spent a year as a medical resident at Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver. She
then worked part-time in general practice whilst her children were young. After
13 years in group practice at the Seymour Clinic, she established her own
medical office with another female doctor on West Broadway.
Over the years Kay delivered many
babies, and enjoyed the interaction with growing families. She however felt
saddened at the lack of emotional and spiritual support provided by hospitals
for those at the other end of life. Regretting her own inability to fill this
need for her patients and their families, she developed an interest in the
holistic approaches of the hospice movement. |
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Once her children were independent,
Kay set about educating herself in palliative care, the medical side of hospice.
She attended the first of several international conferences, and was inspired by
the attitudes of those involved with both clinical work and research. She also
had a feeling of profound relief, finding that her previously held concerns
about Western medicine's approach to dying were widely shared. While still in
her family practice, Kay worked as a physician consultant to Hospice Vancouver,
an interdisciplinary team providing home care to persons choosing to spend their
last days at home. She then covered for another physician on the Palliative Care
Unit at St Paul's Hospital. After this locum stretched to six months, she
decided to stay in this field of medicine. On the St Paul's Hospital palliative
care team, Kay was part of a large group providing medical care and support for
those dying of cancer, AIDS, and other diseases. She also worked at the
Palliative Care Unit at St Mary's Hospital in New Westminster. Her teaching
skills were recognized in her appointment as Clinical Assistant Professor in the
Department of Family Medicine at UBC. Kay has retired early to pursue other
interests, but found that she wanted to make some use of her medical and
end-of-life knowledge and experience. This wish led to the development of her
workshop 'Demystifying Dying'. This personalized course, appropriate for both
professional and lay people, investigates pertinent issues for those who are
healthy, those with a diagnosis of incurable illness, and their loved ones and
caregivers. She travels from her home in the Kootenays to give this workshop.
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