Florence Wald Honored by the Connecticut Council for Hospice and Palliative Care
New Haven, CT — November 1, 2005
On November 1, 2005, the Connecticut Council for Hospice and Palliative Care held "A Tribute to Florence S. Wald", Dean Emeritus of Yale School of Nursing. The event celebrated the creation of "The Annual Florence Wald Conference" which will continue to teach others compassionate care as people approach the end of life. Among the speakers at the event were Council President Carol Mahier, R.N., YSN Dean Margaret Grey, YSN faculty members Linda Pellico and Ruth McCorkle, the Florence Wald Professor of Nursing. Reverend Dr. Edward Dobihal, Dr. Morriss Wessel, and Reverend Sally Bally, members of the original group of founders of the hospice movement in the United States also gave remarks. CT Hospice Medical Director Dr. Frederick Flatow recognized Florence and her late husband Henry for their courage and efforts to establish CT Hospice. Dr. Linda S. Schwartz, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs and YSN researcher, presented a proclamation by Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell which proclaimed November 1, 2005 as "Florence S. Wald Day."
Florence Wald began her career at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City and served in the Signal Corps during World War II. She holds three degrees from Yale University: Master of Nursing, Master of Science, and Honorary Doctor of Medical Sciences. She has also been awarded the honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Bridgeport in 1967 and the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Mt. Holyoke College in 1978. While serving as Dean of the Yale School of Nursing from 1959 to 1968, Wald initiated and implemented numerous reforms in educational programs, guiding the Yale School of Nursing to a new definition of nursing as a scholarly clinical discipline.
Wald's life is a tribute to the forces of humanism in health care, particularly the compassionate care for the dying. Devoting her endless energy to the development of a new institution dedicated to helping terminally ill patients and their families, Wald founded Hospice Incorporated in Branford, CT, which has since become a model for
hospice care in the United States and abroad. For her pioneering enthusiasm Florence Wald was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 1996, The National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Connecticut Hall of Fame in 1999. She has also been awarded YSN's Distinguished Alumni Award, the Distinguished Woman of Connecticut Award, the Founder's Award of the American Hospice Association, and the first Florence S. Wald Award for Contributions to Nursing Practice of the Connecticut
Nurses Association. In 2001, Florence Wald was named 'Living Legend' by the American Academy of Nursing, a tittle the Academy bestows upon those most stellar Fellows who serve as role models in the nursing field and epitomize nursing's proud history.
Florence Wald maintains a far-ranging humanistic philosophy of health care by viewing interpersonal relationships as a healing tool for the nurse practitioner. At eighty-four years young, Florence Wald remains a leader in expanding the compassionate care of the dying by bringing hospice care to prison settings.
