Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database

Dr. Lucille: The Lucille Teasdale Story

This film is based on the true life story of Lucille Teasdale, one of Canada's first female physicians. She received many refusals for positions in Canadian hospitals so she joined an Italian colleague to work in a Catholic mission hospital in Uganda. She and her colleague later married and continued their work at the hospital where they trained nurses and doctors, sheltered refugees, and gradually modernized their facilities. They spent their lives caring for the lost, sick, and dying in a world of poverty, tribal conflict, and civil war.

A daughter was born to them. The child resented her mother's commitment to the patients in the hospital. After being sent to Italy for school, she finally recognized her parents' dedication and became a physician herself, working in Italy and helping to support the hospital. Dr. Lucille contracted AIDS from surgical injuries but continued to work until her death in 1996.

I have found this film to be very useful in medical humanities classes. It is an inspiring story of two dedicated physicians and their humanitarian service in a very needy African mission. I think it is especially important for women students to have this courageous woman role model and to realize special difficulties that women face.

Challenges of missionary service are well shown, as are the rewards. The problem of AIDS in Africa is introduced as we watch Dr. Lucille die of the disease.