Date of issue: September 10, 2020
Series: Medical Groundbreakers
Design: Mike Savage and Dale Kilian
Balfour Mount
Balfour Mount was born in 1939 in Ottawa. He graduated with a degree in medicine from Queen’s University, Kingston, in 1963 and subsequently specialized in urology at ±«ÓăÖ±˛Ą and surgical oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York.
His interest in end-of-life care developed during a study of dying patients at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal in 1973. Following a visit to St Christopher’s Hospice in London, England, he convinced the administration of the RVH to create Canada’s first comprehensive palliative care program (1975). This included a home care service, a consultation service to acute care wards, an in-hospital palliative care unit, and a bereavement follow-up service. The program was a success and was copied in other institutions across Canada and internationally, leading to Mount being known as the “father” of palliative care in Canada.
The Stamp
In addition to a photograph of Mount, the stamp includes images of a bed-bound man watched over by a care giver or family member. Below, two healthy hands enfold – comfort – a third hand that shows tissue loss suggestive of chronic illness. A staff of Aesculapius is present in the postmark.
