Damien de Veuster (1840–1889) – A Life Devoted to Lepers

Publication date: Available online 17 May 2018
Source:Clinics in Dermatology
Author(s): Jakub Pawlikowski, Joanna Banasiuk, Jarosław Sak, Mariusz Jojczuk, Andrzej Grzybowski
Father Damian de Veuster or Saint Damien of Molokai (1840–1889) was one of the precursors of the holistic approach to care provision for leprosy patients and contributed to the overcoming of patients' social stigmatization. He devoted his life to the lepers living in America's only leper colony, on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, where people with leprosy were required to live under government-sanctioned medical quarantine. Father Damien gained practical skills in caring for the sick, eagerly learning wound cleansing, bandaging techniques and drug administration from a nurse. Mahatma Gandhi said that Father Damien's work had inspired his own social campaigns in India.