Joan Hunt
The founder of Cudeca, Joan Hunt, who died on 24 June 2021 at the age of 92, was one of the most inspirational pioneers in the field of palliative care in Southern Spain. She arrived in Málaga in 1984 with the idea of retiring with her husband, Fred, but unbeknown to her at that time, this would be the beginning of a new era for both Joan and the Costa del Sol.
Following the death of her husband, who died of cancer just a few years after they arrived on the coast, the spirited Liverpudlian broke down barriers - from language to bureaucracy – to bring palliative care to patients in the final stages of a terminal illness throughout the Málaga province.
The loss of her husband made Joan aware of the need for palliative care in the area and ignited her unwavering resolve to fill that gap. Without speaking the language and with few resources, she launched Cudeca in 1992, a foundation which has earned the recognition of institutions and Andalusian society for its efforts in providing quality palliative care and support to those who care for the sick during illness, and also in the subsequent grief.
Born on 5 January 1929 in Liverpool, Joan Hunt was one of nine siblings. At the age of two, she contracted severe septic arthritis, an infection that damaged her hip and left her with a permanent limp.
Her parents, who were fervent Irish Catholics, moved to London in 1937 in search of better employment opportunities, although Joan was evacuated from London at the outset of WWII.
After the war, Joan returned to London, where her mother paid for secretarial, accounting, shorthand and typing classes. Because of her mother’s intuition, Joan was on course for a successful career in business.
In 1961, she started working at Berger Paints, a large multinational paint company where she became assistant director and head of Personnel Administration.
It was at this time that she met her husband at a dance and her decision to marry a divorced man, and one much older than her, went against her family’s deep Catholic convictions. The couple married regardless.
Her arrival on the Costa del Sol and the founding of the Cudeca Foundation was a turning point in her life, and also in the lives of countless others.
Joan received numerous awards over the years. Among them were the 1st Annual Award from SUR in English (1996); European Woman of the Year Award (1997); the OBE presented to her by Prince Charles (2002), the Málaga Woman of the Year Award (2005), and the Premio del Día de Andalucía from the Junta de Andalucía in 2015.
In 2013, Benalmádena town hall named the roundabout next to the hospice after Joan.
Joan’s personal efficiency and determination helped her achieve what most would have deemed impossible. Never without her sunflower, or her eternal smile, one of Joan’s favourite sayings was, “A vision without action is just daydreaming, and an action without vision is like a nightmare.”
Joan Hunt ( 5 January 1929, Liverpool, Torremolinos - 24 June 2021, Benalmadena)