GAYLE LEE
Gayle Lee, 69, Hospice Pioneer and Patient Advocate Gayle Lee RN, MHA, a
founder of the Cancer Support Team, one of earliest hospice programs in
the country, died on Friday, July 11 at Greenwich Hospital. She was 69. The cause
was complications arising from lung cancer.
In 1978, Mrs. Lee co-founded the Cancer Support Team, the first hospice program in New York, and one of the first nationally. At a time when cancer care was focused on clinical treatment, Mrs. Lee helped revolutionize the treatment of cancer by providing psychological, emotional and spiritual support for patients and their families in their homes. Her goal was to design a program that delivered treatment for "the whole of the patient.” What started as an unpaid part-time position in which she would visit patients in their homes to address their psychological and emotional needs quickly evolved into a full-time occupation. "It became clear that the two days a week I spent on those issues could have occupied seven days a week, so great was the need” said Gayle Lee. Over the next 10 years, The Cancer Support Team evolved to provide a very comprehensive set of hospice-related services to patients including adolescent counseling for children who lost parents to financial support to help pay for medication or fund travel for relatives that could not afford to fly. Patients were not charged and they did not have to be terminal to receive care. The organization was privately funded and avoided the bureaucracy typically affiliated with healthcare so they could respond at anytime and focus purely on the needs of the patient. During this time Mrs. Lee operated as the Chairman, co-founder and nurse-coordinator and personally served over 500 patients and their families across Westchester County. She retired from the Cancer Support Team in 1989. Today, the Cancer Support Team is a thriving hospice organization headquartered in Mamaroneck, NY. They serve many hundreds of cancer patients and their families every year.
Gayle Lee was born in Newport, RI in 1939 to Roger Hamilton King and Elizabeth Darling Griffith King. From an early age, she was exposed to patient care; her mother worked at the Newport hospital as a ward clerk where she recorded patient medications and took vital signs. She was chosen as the Co-ed Colonel by the local ROTC during her senior year and subsequently attended nursing school at Massachusetts General Hospital.
As she was finishing school in the fall of 1960, she met her future husband, John Lee, at the Newport Jazz Festival. They married in early 1961 and proceeded to move to Italy where they lived for the next two years. Mrs. Lee moved to Larchmont, NY in 1964 and she remained there the rest of her life.
After a brief period focused on raising her four children, she immersed herself into a wide range of activities. She was the President of the Junior League of Westchester and led the effort to sponsor the Equal Rights Amendment, entitling women to equal pay for equal work. Her passion for civil rights was also fought at the local level where she picketed the Orienta Beach Club and Larchmont Yacht Club to diversify their membership.
Her hospice career started in earnest in the mid 70s while she was working as a patient advocate at New York Hospital under the guidance of Ann Cote, a pioneer in the field. It was there that she saw the value in representing the rights of the patient, helping them navigate the healthcare system and tending to their emotional needs. She then helped launch the patient advocacy program at New Rochelle Hospital and subsequently co-founded the Cancer Support Team. "The Cancer Support Team has been my proudest creation, outside of my family, and is today an extraordinary provider of services and care.”
Mrs. Lee's marriage to John Lee ended in 2001 when he died from cancer. She is survived by her 4 children, Jocelyn of Brooklyn, NY, Lauren of Wilton, CT, John of Larchmont, NY and Roger of San Francisco, CA, her 10 grandchildren and her partner Bob Williams.
2080 Boston Post Rd.
Larchmont, NY 10538
(914) 834-0144