Madam, - A relative of mine died in the peace and human warmth of Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, Dublin in February.
During her stay there she expressed immense gratitude at being so blessed as to have its staff, volunteers and fellow patients as her community.
The hospice experience was a defining one for all of us. It is a haven of cloister-like calm where human dignity is paramount. It forced us to think about our own personal values and about how much poorer Irish society would be without the hospice movement.
A nurse assistant, on her round one midnight, told me she did not regard her duties as a job but as "a wonderful, wonderful privilege".
You devoted two Editorials in recent months to the care of the dying and last Tuesday's HEALTHplus supplement provided stirring contributions from Gabriel Byrne and Kathryn Holmquist.
May I respectfully suggest, without trespassing on Mervyn Taylor's mission, that Gabriel Byrne act as a promoter of much needed hospice ideals within our society in a way that could possibly parallel Paul Newman's role in the field of support for children who are seriously ill? - Yours, etc,
PETER CARR, Rail Park, Maynooth, Co Kildare.