Sister Frances Dominica Ritchie

"'Sister Frances Dominica Ritchie is a British nurse, specializing in paediatric palliative care.

Early life

Born in Inverness, Scotland she lived in Greenock until the age of three and half, before moving to Surrey with her parents. From an early age she wanted to be a nurse. [cite web | title=Interview: Margarette Driscoll meets Sister Frances Dominica | work=Sunday Times Review | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1009807_1,00.html | accessdate=2006-07-02] .

This was because she nursed her brother, David Ritchie, who was five-and-a-half years younger than her and was born with one lung. As a result she regularly visited her brother at Great Ormond Street. She attended the Cheltenham Ladies' College before returning to Great Ormond Street to train as a paediatric nurse. During her training she was seconded to the Middlesex Hospital to do her General Training.

Helen House Hospice

She chose palliative care "because of an encounter with two-year-old Helen, who had surgery for a cerebral tumour and was cared for at home in a comatose state". Sister Frances took the little girl into her own home from time to time to give her parents a break from caring. From this she went on to found [http://www.helenanddouglas.org.uk/ Helen House] in Oxford, the world’s first hospice for children, where she is still a trustee.

In January 2007, the documentary series, "The Children of Helen House", began airing on BBC2.

Douglas House

She went on to found [http://www.helenanddouglas.org.uk/ Douglas House] , a "respice" for people between 16 and 40 with life-shortening conditions, which was opened by HM The Queen in 2004 and which is built in the same grounds as Helen House. Both houses offer respite care, accompanied by members of the family if they so choose, end-of-life care, and family support from the time of referral for as many years after the death of the young person as the family may wish. [cite web | title=Sister Frances Dominica Ritchie | work=RCN Fellows | url=http://www.rcn.org.uk/aboutus/fellows/frances.php | accessdate=2006-07-02]

Trivia

She was a guest on the BBC radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. [cite web | title=Sister Frances Dominica Ritchie | work=BBC Desert Island Discs | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/desertislanddiscs_20040208.shtml | accessdate=2006-07-02]

Links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article1026109.ece Timesonline.co.uk]

References