Strict nursing days fondly recalled

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 1

Strict nursing days fondly recalled

Five former nurses yesterday walked through Christchurch Hospital where they used to roll eggs and polish rubbish tins 50 years ago.

It was the first reunion for the five surviving members of 12 nurses who started their training together, at 10 a.m. on January 9, 1934. Mrs Mavis Andrew (nee Adams), of Motunau, organised the day’s outing for her fellow trainees. She got in touch with Mrs Doris Shackle (nee Chapman), of Picton, and the three others in Christchurch, Mrs Molly Moffett (nee Wilson), Miss Pat Dewar, and Mrs Clare Lambie (nee Junker). Armed with photograph collections, the former nurses, all in their early 70s, set out on a nostalgic stroll.

Mrs Shackle remembered the first day of their threeweek training course. “They gave us three caps but we had to provide the elastic to hold them on.” The first lesson came from a standard textbook: “The nurse, as before stated, should never wear rustling dresses, creaking shoes, or shoes with noisy heels, and should avoid heavy or clumsy movements, as all these are extremely irksome to the patient.”

Then it was the start of three years ward work during the Depression, earning 30 shillings a month. They stayed in the old brick nurses’ hostel, now due for demolition.

Discipline was tough, curfews were strict, and nurses had to make their own fun but all five agreed that they would choose the same job today if possible. Miss Dewar, who retired as deputy matron at Burwood Hospital, remembered quiet night hours on duty when, for entertainment, she used to roll an egg wrapped ,in cottonwool along the corridors. One nursing sister of the day insisted the rubbish tins be polished and that the rubber tread marks left by the theatre trolley be rubbed away each time it crossed her ward floor.

Mrs Shackle said they later discovered that the sister who ran the most economical outfit got a bonus. “The diet sister was the one who used to win all the time.”

As for another reunion, they might think about

In the meantime, the former nurses admired the improvements to the main hospital corridor and the new staff cafeteria.

“Oh my goodness, carpet on the floor,” Mrs Shackle exclaimed softly.