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Legacy of Caring Award


The “Legacy of Caring Award” is the highest honor within the International Association for Human Caring community.


2023 Awards

Dr. Simone Roach

Dr. Sister Marie Simone Roach, known by many as “Sister Simone”, was born in 1922 in Scotchtown, Cape Breton, a coal-mining community in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. She received a nursing diploma from St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing, in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia in 1944. A year later, she joined the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Martha Antigonish, Nova Scotia in 1945 to continue her life-long commitment to serving humanity and nursing. Earning her  undergraduate nursing degree from St. Francs Xavier University, Antigonish, she obtained a Master of Nursing Science at Boston University. Dr. Roach received her PhD in Philosophical Foundations of Education from Catholic University of America in 1970, completing  her post-doctoral studies in ethics at Harvard Divinity School.

Dr Roach continues to be recognized for rich legacy of caring theory, practice, and teaching of Ontology of Human Caring, ethics, spirituality, and suffering. Her shared wisdom is still accessible through her published books and articles, which include her foundational works: Caring, The Human Mode of Being, 2nd Rev. Ed. and Caring From the Heart: The Convergence of Caring and Spirituality (1997). Dr. Roach was a long-standing member of IAHC, continuously presented at IAHC conferences, and enriched ongoing dialogue and writings about her belief that caring is a primary attribute of being human.

Dr. Roach was honored by the Order of Canada in 2010 for her contributions and leadership to nursing and for creating the first Code of Ethics for nurses in Canada. In 2011, she received an honorary doctoral degree from Mc Master University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada for her research and scholarly work on Caring within the nursing discipline. Sister Roach lectured internationally, with presentations in Australia, Bangkok, Finland, Cambridge (England), Russia, Sterling (Scotland), Canada and the US.

Sadly, Dr. Roach died in Bethany, at the Sisters of St. Martha Motherhouse, on July 2nd, 2016 at the age of 93. Sister Simone will continue posthumously to be an outstanding inspiration and contributing scholar for the International Association for Human Caring and numerous living scholars for her 6Cs Caring Theory (compassion, competence, confidence, conscience, commitment, and comportment) and her loving presence among the IAHC members.


Dr. Shirley Gordon