Flanders was a palliative care champion
Palliative care pioneer leaves a legacy of helping people die with grace and peace
Montrealer Kappy Flanders, known for her passionate advocacy for palliative care, died at home on Saturday surrounded by family. She was 81.
Dr. Bernard Lapointe, a palliative-care physician who from 2009 until this past spring held the Eric M. Flanders Chair in Palliative Medicine at Mcgill University, called her a “mentor” and “a remarkable visionary.”
The Flanders Chair, which she established in 1994, was the first chair in palliative medicine in North America and, for Dr. Richard Cruess, dean of medicine at Mcgill at the time, it marked “one of the seminal events in the development of palliative medicine in Montreal.”
Flanders established the Council on Palliative Care at Mcgill and served for years as its co-chair; for this she received the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Medal in 2003. She was also a tireless volunteer on behalf of the Mcgill community, and in 2009 received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Mcgill. In 2015 she was named a member of the Order of Canada.
What was remarkable about her mother, said Judith Flanders, the second of Kappy Flanders’ four children, “was that she had this life in two acts.”
Born in London, England, she grew up in a middle-class family. She was expected to marry, have children, do community work. “She didn’t think about stepping off the path set for families like her.”
She was married at 18 and had four children by age 27. When Kappy was 53, her husband, Eric, died of lung cancer. The family knew nothing of palliative care.
“In 1991, when he died, she thought no one should have to go through what we did — not knowing how to find care, not knowing what to do. She decided to do something about it,” Judith said.
“She found in the palliative care community a world of possibilities, a way to harness her formidable will and intellect into this passion and this ability to make people’s lives better.”
In so doing, “she built up this astonishing network of people. And because she was warm and generous and passionate about what she was doing and it was for the betterment of (the) community, everybody was really happy to help. “She was adamant and could be stubborn and unyielding. But that’s how you get stuff done. She was also loving and warm and caring, and we were fiercely proud of her.”
Author Louise Penny was a palliative-care volunteer at the Royal Victoria Hospital when she learned of the Flanders chair. She was working for the CBC then and covered a speech Kappy gave on the occasion, then asked her to come into the studio to record the speech. The two stayed in touch and when Kappy started the palliative care council, she asked Penny to join. “Kappy is really a great example of turning a tragedy into something that benefits all of us,” she said. “Awareness grew because of her. How beautiful that she, who helped so many others die in peace herself, got to die that way because there was palliative care.”
Kappy had told her family that if she were to get cancer again — she’d had bouts before — she didn’t want treatment. She had lived a long and happy life and wanted it to conclude peacefully.
“We accepted and honoured that decision,” said Judith, who stayed with her during the final few months. Kappy’s doctor called daily. Lapointe consulted virtually and then came in, daily, at the end.
In addition to her palliative care work, Kappy was the driving force behind Mcgill’s popular Minimed continuing education series, which expanded to other faculties: Mini-music, Mini-law, Mini-science, and Mini-biz.
Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Kasirer recalled Kappy proposing the Mini-law series to him when he was dean of Mcgill’s law faculty. Because of her efforts, “Moot Court at Mcgill was packed on Thursday evenings for weeks on end as she brought literally hundreds of Montrealers to share in what she cherished most about Mcgill: its people and its ideas,” he recalled.
Kappy, who sat on Mcgill’s Board of Governors from 1998 to 2007, was “tireless as a volunteer, displaying her profound good sense on untold committees, hosting elegant dinners to assist in raising money and morale, and quietly helping deans and principals to address tough academic and administrative problems,” Kasirer said.
Said Lapointe: “Her legacy will live on in so many ways, but she would be happiest if she thought her work had helped others navigate end of life with grace, adequate resources and the ability to have clear conversations with their family and loved ones about their wishes and dreams.”