Samira Beckwith Wins 2009 Ohio State University Alumni Association Medalist Award

Alumna Samira Kanaan Beckwith, president and CEO of Hope Hospice, Ft. Myers, Florida, is the 2009 recipient of The Ohio State University Alumni Association Medalist Award.  Beckwith is the first social worker to receive this prestigious award.

Each year, the Medalist Award, the single highest honor accorded by The Ohio State University Alumni Association, Inc., is presented to alumni who have gained national or international distinction as outstanding exponents of a chosen field or profession and who have brought extraordinary credit to the university and significant benefit to humankind.  Beckwith shares this honor with astronaut Nancy J. Currie, the late John D. Drinko, the late Max M. Fisher, and Leslie H. Wexner – to name a few.

Beckwith arrived in the United States from Lebanon as a young child with her parents who were seeking a better life.  One dream came to fruition when Samira graduated from Ohio State with a BA in Sociology ’74 and a MSW in ’77 while undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s disease.  It was through this challenge and personal suffering that she found her calling. Her encounters with fellow patients directly influenced her desire to find a way to offer a better life for everyone – a place she could create, a place where dying people would find comfort and dignity. 

Eighteen years ago, Bechwith became executive director of Hope Hospice, a small health care agency operating out of a storefront serving only a handful of patients in Ft. Myers, Florida.  With a vision “to create an environment in which life’s journey is cherished,” Hope Hospice now cares for more than a thousand residents any given day and provides support services to their families that spans a 10,000 square mile area of southwest and central Florida with a staff of 650 professionals and over 700 volunteers.

Former Governor Jed Bush, who described Beckwith as “visionary in her role and passionate about ensuring the highest quality of service,” appointed her to Florida’s Long-Term Care Policy Council that was responsible for providing cost-effective community-based services. Florida State Senator Burt Saunders, former chair of the Senate health and Human Services Committee, described Beckwith’s approach as “human and personal because she cares about people.” Dr. Bernice Harper, retired Medicate Advisor for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, worked with Beckwith on the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Task Force on Access to Hospice Care for People of Color and highly praised the vital role Samira played in the progress made by the task force.

Beckwith’s professional contributions also include advisory service to the J&J/Rosalynn Carter Institute, the Caregiving and Cancer Editorial Board, Washington, D.C., the Hospice Association of America, the Medicaid Education Project, and the National Institutes of Health’s Practice Guidelines Coalition.  She has served as an editorial advisory board member to The Hospice Journal, Dignified Death Update, and Palliative Care Update.

As a 30-year survivor of cancer, including breast cancer, Beckwith works tirelessly as an advocate, as an author and a spokesperson influencing policy-makers, and as a social worker to ensure “the end of life is as cherished as the beginning.”