Lucille Teasdale, Medicine From the Heart
Piero and Lucille Corti Onlus Foundation.
As part of a series of articles on major personalities who have furthered the cause of tolerance in Canada, Tolerance.ca® presents Lucille Teasdale, co-founder with her husband Piero Corti of a hospital and nursing school in Uganda. Portrait of a determined woman who devoted her life to caring for the poorest of the poor.
On August 1, 1996, at the age of 67, in a small town in Italy, Lucille Teasdale died of AIDS, her long-time companion Piero Corti at her side. The humanitarian surgeon had dedicated her life and art to providing medical care to the poor and needy. Her commitment was not in vain: today, she remains an outstanding example of the ethical principles that ought to guide every disciple of Hippocrates.
During her entire life, Teasdale worked under extreme conditions in Uganda, a country torn by strife and power struggles. Turning her back on her country and culture, on the lure of financial gain and the prestige of her profession, she chose medicine at its most urgent, practiced with whatever was at hand, in places where human need was the greatest: medicine in the most noble sense of the term.
Shortly before her death, the University of Montreal awarded her an honorary doctorate in tribute to her lifelong commitment. During the ceremony, Patrick Vinay, then dean of the faculty of medicine, declared that Lucille Teasdale had "raised the standard of humanity" through her work in Uganda: "Her action and personality bear witness to the infinite value of people, the universality of the dramas that colour every human life, the fundamental equality of all humans, and the joyous hope generated by true self-sacrifice."
The Early Years
Nothing about this grocer's daughter from a poor neighbourhood suggested that she would one day become a surgeon, much less a war surgeon. Born in the east end of Montreal, Lucille was the fifth child in a family of seven children.
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The privilege of working with the destitute
"She was to go to Paris, where a job as resident at the hospital for sick children awaited her. At the time, that was considered a real privilege. But she often said that for her, it was a privilege to work among the poor…"
Pierre-Paul Collin.
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In 1950s Quebec, a society in which religion and tradition carried full weight, few girls managed to embark on the challenging path that led to a career in medicine. To those who suggested that her sex was an insurmountable obstacle, Lucille retorted that women had a natural talent for surgery, "because it's sewing!" After four years at the Jésus-Marie College, she entered the faculty of medicine at the University of Montreal in 1950.
A humanitarian with a keen sense of justice, Lucille Teasdale soon formed her idea of the medical profession, based on an uncommon ethics of duty. Already, notes her sister Lise Teasdale, her objective was clear. "She wanted to become a doctor to help people, not to make money. She had planned to go to India with a fellow student, but the project fell through. It was her meeting with Piero Corti at Ste-Justine that gave her the chance to pursue her dream."
Africa
Born into a bourgeois Italian family, Piero Corti came to Montreal in the mid-1950s to specialize in paediatrics. Several years later in Marseille, his path again crossed that of Lucille; the meeting would change her destiny. "Piero Corti was the son of a rich humanist who wanted to open a hospital in Africa," recalls Lise. "He told Lucille that he needed another surgeon and she replied, 'I'll help you out for three months.' She went and in the end, decided to stay in Africa because there was a shortage of doctors. And she fell in love."
In spring 1961, the couple settled in Gulu, a town in the north of Uganda, then a British colony. With the help of other Italian volunteers, Teasdale and Corti immediately set about opening their hospital, St. Mary's Lacor.
The Work of a Lifetime
In the eyes of Pierre-Paul Collin, who was Teasdale's teacher from 1956 to 1958 at the surgery department of Ste-Justine Hospital and a mentor of sorts, she was a model student. "She had a lot of talent and didn't allow those around her to do anything less than the maximum." He remembers her time in Gulu in the early 1960s, before the bloody dictatorship of Idi Amin. "Lucille took on all types of operations and did things I've never done in my life. She relied on her book of medicine and her experience; now and then, she'd send me a message asking for advice. But I couldn't always be of help. She had to do everything by herself."
Dr. Gloria Jeliu, who met Teasdale at Sainte Justine and became a close friend, remembers the makeshift hospital she visited in 1963 and the efforts to turn it into an efficient operation. "It was extremely primitive and had little laboratory capacity. But it later grew into a very large hospital. At the time, the hospital staff was mostly Italian nuns. Then they set up a nursing school for African women. The goal was to prepare the local population to take over the running of the hospital. (…) Today, doctors go there for training and the hospital is considered a university institution." Some fifty doctors practise in Gulu today, only one of whom is Italian, and the hospital has 550 African employees.
The War
At the start of the 1970s, Uganda was plunged into war. Rebel groups struck blindly, sometimes attacking hospital staff. Working conditions became increasingly perilous. On several occasions, Teasdale had to operate on injured soldiers or rebel fighters whose shattered bones were as sharp as knives. She often cut herself and in all likelihood, that is how she contracted AIDS.
"She would take out bullets or bits of bone with her hands and didn't worry if she cut herself," recalls Lise. "At the time, nothing was known about blood contamination." Despite the difficult political climate, Lucille was happy because she was practising medicine as she wished, doing all types of operations. "But she always wanted the violence to stop," continues Lise. "Seeing wounded children was what she found the hardest. Often she would say to Piero, 'Let's leave, this is crazy.' But the next day, she would decide to carry on."
Illness
Lucille Teasdale's world was devastated in 1985 when she learned she had contracted AIDS. But she received the verdict with serenity, remembers Lise. "To her, it was one of the risks of the job."
After consulting a specialist in England, who told her that by taking precautions she could still save many lives, Teasdale decided to pursue her work. She continued right up until March 1996, a few months before her death. Dr. Jeliu recalls, "She was not overwhelmed by the disease and spoke of it as something distant (…). I can still see her in my living room, talking as if nothing was up."
Her Legacy
Lucille Teasdale was buried in Africa, after a funeral that followed the rites and customs of her adopted homeland. Between 1961 and 1996, she had carried out 13,719 operations. Had she remained in Quebec, she could have earned a high salary and lived comfortably. But in Uganda, she made almost nothing; the hospital subsists on foreign donations.
"She should have received the Nobel peace prize," claims Mr. Collin. "The Cortis founded a hospital and a centre for lepers; they lived through war and risked their lives. Their accomplishments were remarkable." Despite constant adversity - attacks by Ugandan rebels on the hospital, separation from their daughter, attempts on the life of Piero Corti - the couple never wavered in their commitment to Africa's poor and sick.
While our health system is supposedly going through a crisis, with congested emergency rooms, interminable waiting lists, and a shortage of doctors, we should remember that a world of difference separates our situation from that of Africans. "When I read in the papers about the millions of dollars that go to our institutions," comments Mr. Collin, "I find it regrettable that we are incapable of raising funds for the Lacor Hospital. The answer is always, 'We have so many needs here.' But it's not the same. Here, we are short of non-essential things, while they don't even have the necessities."
Translated by Christine York.
Address of the Lucille Teasdale and Piero Corti Foundation:
8880, boul. Lacordaire - St-Léonard, Québec - H1R 2B3
Tél.: 514-253-1737 Courriel : info@drlucille.org
Site Internet : www.drlucille.org
This article is one of a ten-part series made possible with the financial support of
