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The HPNF Florence Wald Fellows Program was established in honor of Florence S. Wald, MN, MS, FAAN. Florence Wald Fellows lead the way toward high quality of life for persons experiencing serious illness through excellence in palliative nursing. These devoted and generous donors ensure that funds are available to nurses and other healthcare professionals for education and research in the advancement of the rapidly growing and increasingly important hospice and palliative nursing specialty while honoring the “mother of hospice and palliative care.” |
Florence Wald Fellows demonstrate their strong commitment to quality, end-of-life care by pledging to contribute a total of $10,000 to the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation over the course of a maximum of five years. Florence Wald Fellows are given special recognition by the Foundation.
Click here for current listing of Florence Wald Fellows
Inspired by Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of St. Christopher's Hospice in London, England and motivated by her passion for providing excellent care to the dying, Dr. Wald led the way of converting the English hospice philosophy to an American reality.
Born Florence Sophie Schorske on April 19, 1917, in New York City, she was the younger of two children and graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938. In 1941, she received a master’s degree in nursing from Yale University School of Nursing. She credits the superb comfort and care from her mother and a homeopathic physician during a childhood experience with pneumonia as her reason for choosing to enter the nursing profession. In 1959, she married Henry Wald, who proved to be wonderfully supportive throughout her life.
On January 22, 2004, Dr. Wald became the first recipient of the HPNA Leading the Way Award. She received three degrees from Yale University, an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Bridgeport and an honorary Doctor of Human Letters from Mount Holyoke College. She helped to found Hospice Incorporated in Branford, Connecticut, the first hospice in the United States, and she was honored with the title of Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing. She is an American Nurses Association Hall of Fame, National Women’s Hall of Fame and Connecticut Hall of Fame inductee. She is also a Yale School of Nursing Distinguished Alumna. Dr. Wald is published widely and earned many other distinctions. Establishing hospice care in prisons and training inmates to be hospice volunteers was a passion of hers in later years. Florence Wald died in November, 2008 after living to 91.
Become a Florence Wald Fellow!
A Florence Wald Fellow commitment to the Hospice and Palliative Nurse Foundation is a signigicant undertaking. Your commitment begins with a Pledge of Intent and is followed by a Gift Agreement.
The process begins by clicking the link to download the Florence Wald Fellows Pledge Form.
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