Hospice icon left us lessons in dignity, hope

We have a tradition in hospice care: When a patient passes away, we often reflect on the lessons they taught us. As our community grieves the recent passing of Arthur Robbins, a person many of us think of as “Mr. Rhode Island,” we would like to share this tradition in his honor.

What did Arthur teach us? There are many lessons to choose from.

For starters, he taught us that our highest calling is to treat one another with dignity.

From the moment Arthur joined HopeHealth’s board of directors in the mid-1970s, he understood that the way we treat our patients at the end of life represents something sacred about who we are as a society — and that hospice has a crucial role to play. At that time, this was not a widespread thought in health care. In fact, HopeHealth was one of just two hospice providers in the United States. Arthur was tireless in his efforts to expand our services, including eventually opening Rhode Island’s only freestanding inpatient hospice facility, the HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center. In the process, he forever shaped health care in this state.

HopeHealth is one of many organizations that owe Arthur a debt of gratitude. He supported and served as board member for dozens of civic, Jewish and healthrelated causes in his beloved state of Rhode Island. He helped create the Rhode Island Holocaust Museum. He helped launch the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau. He started the first charter school in Rhode Island. The list goes on.

Having Arthur in common made all of us better: In moments when our organizations might have remained separate, he helped us come together and see our common causes. He was the glue. As his family beautifully writes in his obituary, “Arthur was a real estate developer who not only built office buildings and hotels, but also communities.”

We believe this is another one of Arthur’s lessons, then: to turn toward our neighbors. While he was alive, he could always be counted upon to start the introductions. Now, it is up to each of us.

Finally, Arthur taught us the compounding effect of hope and hard work. “It takes dedicated people to move any organization to greater heights,” he said when he was named chairman emeritus of the HopeHealth board of directors. “Having seen what has happened in our organization after all these years is truly amazing.”

It truly is. It is impossible to put in words what Arthur Robbins meant to each of us individually, and to Rhode Island as a whole. In his 91 years, he improved thousands of lives — through health care, education, community growth and beyond. These causes will carry on, continuing to improve the lives of generations of Rhode Islanders.

This is yet another lesson from Arthur, and it is one that he will keep teaching us in the years to come: Even when a person’s life comes to an end, their legacy has just begun.

Vincent Mor is board chair of HopeHealth. Diana Franchitto is president and CEO of HopeHealth.