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 McGill University 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.
