| Bill Lamers |
 Bill Lamers was born in 1931 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he also attended medical school (1953-58), and was initially interested
in surgery and family practice. However, Bill Lamers was gradually attracted to the developing area of psychiatry, partly
because of the challenge of a new area of medicine, and partly because of disturbing experiences, both personal and medical,
in the area of death and dying which interested him in the area of mind/body relations. Between 1963 and 1965, Bill Lamers
was employed by the Navy, and worked especially with children and families of servicemen dealing with bereavement. This experience
confirmed his belief in the need for care for families experiencing dying, death and bereavement. Furthermore, in the late
1950s and early 1960s Bill Lamers had gained experience in pain management through work with addicts, and this, together with
his psychiatric experience, formed the basis for a programme of physical and psychosocial care/home care/family care/ and
bereavement follow-up which Bill Lamers established in the 1970s. However, it was only after a visit by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
in 1975, that Bill Lamers became aware of Cicely Saunders and the term 'hospice', and his programme became known as Hospice
of Marin (California). The interview recounts the development of Hospice of Marin, as well as other units in the US, the effects
of Medicare reimbursement, and AIDS. Bill Lamers has also travelled extensively, and between 1981 and 1985 was Assistant Clinical
Director at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
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| Interview conducted by Neil Small, 23 October 1997 |
| Interview Duration: 58 minutes |
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