California State University, Fresno
Nancy Lee Hinds was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and began her nursing career at age 23 as a missionary nurse in the West Indies. She later met her husband, Godfrey Hinds, while working with malnourished children in Nigeria. When he died of cancer in 1977, Mrs. Hinds was left with three sons under the age of five. She moved to Fresno to be closer to her family, and in 1981, she founded Hinds Hospice, which first operated out of her home.
Hinds Hospice has grown tremendously over the years to include outpatient care in Fresno, Madera and Merced counties. It cares for hundreds of patients in the Central Valley through the work of more than 200 employees and 300 volunteers.
Today, Hinds Hospice includes Angel Babies, a pediatric hospice program to support families with terminally ill children through grief support and other services. Mrs. Hinds’ dedicated service has earned her local and national recognition and her company has become a national model for hospice care.
As a pioneer in hospice and palliative care, Mrs. Hinds felt a duty to share her experience with the next generation of medical providers, and she made hospice education part of her mission. Mrs. Hinds and her staff have provided education for physicians and medical students from University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Davis, giving formal hands-on training in end-of-life care.
Fresno State departments and programs—including social work, education and the Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning—have placed volunteer, service-learning and internship students in various capacities with Mrs. Hinds’ company since 1995. Hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students have participated in experiential learning at Hinds Hospice, which cares for more than 1,500 patients per year and provides grief support to more than 4,500 people annually.
Mrs. Hinds’ legacy will be her ability to inspire generations of health care clinicians from all disciplines to follow in her footsteps, serving families with compassion and love at a most challenging time.
In recognition of her significant contributions to the community and her work with the terminally ill, the Board of Trustees of California State University and California State University, Fresno are proud to confer upon Nancy Lee Hinds the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.