Palliative care pioneer remembered
Dr. Ina Cummings is remembered by colleagues as an excellent listener and a soft-spoken but determined advocate for palliative care.
The palliative care pioneer died at the West Island Palliative Care Residence, in Kirkland, on March 20. She was 78.
Cummings was the first medical director at the hospice.
“She never pushed. Instead, she gently guided to show the right path to palliative care,” executive director Teresa Dellar said.
Dellar met Cummings 25 years ago in the early days of working to establish a palliative-care facility.
“Because her vision for palliative care was so advanced and integrated, it was never hard to follow her philosophy,” Dellar said. “She was a quiet, powerful presence.”
Cummings’ interest in palliative care began in the 1970s when she worked at the Royal Victoria Hos- pital with Dr. Balfour M. Mount, who is considered the father of palliative care in North America. They were inspired by Cicely Saunders’ work at the St. Christopher’s Hospice in London, England.
Dellar said Cummings’ mission was to offer patients peaceful, dignified dying.
Cummings was a founding member of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians and helped found the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association.
Dr. Bernard Lapointe — director of Palliative Care McGill and head of Palliative Care Services at the Jewish General Hospital — began working with Mount and Cummings in the 1990s. “She was an exceptional physician,” he said. “Soft-spoken and very calm. She was a perfect listener.”
In 1997 she received the CHPCA’s Award of Excellence. The CSPCP honoured her with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, and an award in her name at the West Island residence recognizes medical excellence in palliative care.
Cummings is survived by her sons Stanley and Krikor Ajemian, grandson Paxton, sister Reta Goodfellow, extended family and friends and longtime companion Elisabeth Janssen.
A memorial service takes place April 2, 2 p.m., at St. Columba-bythe-Lake Church, 11 Rodney Ave. in Pointe-Claire.