Where Nurses Come From

Nursing is not a solitary task. We must find a place of solitude when creating relationship with our patients, while remembering the demands and exceptions of the outside world. Before the work and soul of nursing, we were girls and young women. In nursing education before the 1970’s in Saskatchewan, we entered a three year diploma program. We lived 300 strong in a Nurses Residence, rooming with a stranger following the same path. We learned about physicians and the power they held, and had to learn our own place in health care. We learned about medicines and surgeries, wheelchairs and dietary restrictions. We wore starched uniforms and caps; black stockings in First Year and white stockings after successful completion of that first terrifying, exciting First Year. The shoes! Very sturdy and boring. Definitely not dancing shoes, but serviceable. Our white, starched and very annoying, caps: no band in First Year or Second Year; a blue band in Third year. Many of the procedures and equipment are pieces of history now. What is the same is that sick and injured people need the care that nurses give 24/7, no matter the staffing shortages, pandemics, or tragedies. 

Most, if not all, of our class of 1968 have retired; we have lost too many over the years to the illnesses we have all cared for. Some of these young girls, now older women, are gathering this weekend for our 55th Class Reunion. Those lost to us will be sadly missed. Those not attending due to distance or circumstance will also be missed. Yearbooks and mementos always bring forth memories to compete with good food, many tears and a lot of laughter. 

“Panic plays no part in the training of a nurse.”

~ Elizabeth Kenny