Founder of the modern hospice movement Cicely Saunders founded the first modern hospice and, more than anybody else, was responsible for establishing the discipline and the culture of palliative care. She introduced effective pain management and insisted that dying people needed dignity, compassion, and respect, as well as rigorous scientific methodology in the testing of treatments. St Christopher's Hospice opened in south west London in 1967. It is now one of many but is still the leader in the field. It was her personal achievement and has been imitated all over the world. She raised the funds for the hospice and contributed some of her own money. Saunders introduced the idea of "total pain," which included the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of distress. A good listener, she paid systematic attention to patient narratives. One St Christopher's patient, transferred from another hospital, said, "They used to see how long I could go without an injection. I used to be pouring with sweat because of the pain. I couldn't speak to anyone and I was having crying fits. I think I've only cried once since I've been here. .. The biggest difference is feeling so calm. I don't get worked up or upset." Cicely Mary Strode Saunders was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, in 1918. She was sent to Roedean School when she was 10. Taller than the other girls, she felt she never fitted in, which, she said, gave her a feeling for people who were outsiders. She also suffered from a painful and slightly crooked spine, and was made to lie flat on the floor for 40 minutes a day. Her father disapproved of her desire to be a nurse, and so instead she went to study at Oxford. After the outbreak of the second world war she abandoned her course and defied her parents' advice, enrolling as a student nurse at St Thomas' Hospital in 1944. However, her back was still painful, and she was advised to quit nursing. After returning to Oxford for a year she gained a "war degree" and qualified as a social worker, or what was then called a lady almoner, in 1947. Saunders was originally an agnostic, but, while on holiday in Cornwall with some 238