Sharing my life - Nursing

I won’t begin my life at the beginning, just know that there are some sad tales there that may be told later.

I graduated from the Diploma Nursing Program at Kelsey Institute over 40 years ago. The nursing programs were huge, more than 400 students in the 2-year program, over 200 in each year. It was mostly women, with a few men for color and flavour! J

When I graduated, there were very few jobs. Several of my classmates were getting married in the summer. Some were looking into the USA for jobs, as Canadian nurses were welcomed there because they had better training (or at least that was what we were told). I sent a letter to a few places for a job. I had a boyfriend in Saskatoon, and wanted to stay around that area.

My older sister was working for Medical Services Branch, Health Canada as a clerk in Wadena, a small community about half-way between Saskatoon and Yorkton. She told me that they were looking for a community health nurse. I didn’t know it at the time, but the province paid more to community nurses than the federal government did, so they had great difficulty hiring nurses. I wasn’t sure of the policy of family working together, so I didn’t want to say much about my sister.

I applied for the job, and was granted an interview. Lil Domes was the Zone Nursing Officer, and xxx (I can’t remember the Regional Nursing Officer), and they did the interview with me. As most of my training had been in the hospital and I was very green (lol… both in colour and in experience), I didn’t really prepare for the interview – thinking that I could ‘wing it’! One question I recall is ‘What do you think your priority would be for the first year?’ I stuttered and couldn’t really think of a thing, and they gently suggested ‘maternal health?’, and I responded, ‘oh yes, my priority would be new moms!’ I think that’s how the whole interview went; them asking questions and then suggesting answers to me! (At the time, there were two different kinds of nurses – diploma, trained primarily for hospital work – degree, trained for both hospital and community. As a result, most of the community nurses hired had their degree.) And many times during the interview, they said, ‘my god, you look just like Evelyn that works in the office!’. I didn’t tell them that she was my sister. We did look a lot alike.

After the disastrous interview, they offered me the job!! (I think they would have hired anyone with a pulse!). So, I started on Aug.1. As I hadn’t written my RN exams, I was hired as ‘nurse pending registration’, with the promise that once I received my registration, I would be back-paid from Day 1 at the regular nurses pay. I wrote the RN exams in September, five exams over two and one-half days, and a certain level had to be attained to pass. It took until October or November to get our marks, and to know if we passed and were then registered. I passed, although I don’t recall studying too much.

I was assigned two reserves, Yellowquill and Kinistin First Nation. They were both Saulteaux (Plains Ojibway/Anishnaabe) in culture and language. I went to Yellowquill three to four times a week, about a 30 minute drive, and Kinistin once a week, about a 60 minute drive.

Our office was in the back of the town hall. It was pretty small, with three desks, one for each nurse, and one for the clerk (my sister J). We had a fridge for our vaccines, along with insulated bags and freezer packs to keep our stuff cold when we went for clinic days. Also, Epinephrine was provided in case of problems with the vaccine – which never happened to me, thank God!! We also had a bunch of supplies that we would take around, like Kwellada shampoo for lice, an ointment for crabs, ointment for Impetigo (serious rash), ointment for Scabies (a small burrowing bug that would start in a soft place – between the fingers or inside the elbow), an ointment for sore muscles and bones (very popular, especially amongst the older people), basic first aid supplies with bandages, cleanser, and tape. One item that moms wanted was special infant formula, as many babies were allergic to milk (possibly 70%). If the mom wasn’t breastfeeding, she couldn’t afford to buy the formula. Sometimes, I would see evaporated milk being given, mixed with water, likely due to affordability, and lack of refrigerator to store special formula.

I carried a book with pages in triplicate (government, you know!) for bus tickets. Part of the responsibility was making appointments for people, particularly specialist appointments in the city. So, the bus tickets were needed, along with papers for meals, taxi and accommodations. We had clinic files in boxes on the cupboard, and all the Band Lists for all the reserves in the Fort Qu’Appelle Zone, listing every First Nations person from about 20 reserves with their birth date, status number, and other information in family groupings (no concern about privacy in those days!).

In those days, you could smoke in the office, and I recall a huge ashtray on my desk. My sister smoked for a while, but I think it was mostly myself and the other nurse. Good, healthy role models we were! We used to go for coffee before we head out on the road, to a little Chinese café. All the town businessmen were there too. They used to say that if there wasn’t a rumour started, they would start one in the morning. (And too many people talk about women being gossips!!) Next door to our office, was a small office for Veterans Land Administration. The man that worked in there was older, a veteran, and a friendly guy, a smoker, too, and a card player in the winter if it was too cold to go out.

We were given government vehicles to drive, and they were absolutely stripped down – no radio, no air conditioning, no cruise control, nothing. We were told that the ‘taxpayer’ didn’t want to pay for any extras. My first car was a ’75 Plymouth Fury, 4 door. Someone told me that it had a big motor under the hood, so I used to drive 75-80 miles an hour, everywhere I went. Driving was boring, especially the same road 4-5 days a week. I would drive with my left foot on the gas, stretched across the bench seat. I could read a book set on the steering wheel, looking up now and then to check. I had awful driving habits.

We quickly learned to go to the bathroom before we left the office and didn’t go again until we returned. Very few on the reserve had running water or an indoor toilet. And, some of you might remember outdoor toilets were gross at the best of times, with insects and smell in the summer or extreme cold in the winter. Now that I am older, I advise women to go to the bathroom every hour or so, as it is not good for our bladder if we wait too long, and leads to complications in older life.

We were also provided accommodation, with each nurse having their own 2-bedroom trailer, located side-by-side. The rent was taken off our check; I think it was around $125-150 a month or so. Furniture was provided, with a washer/dryer in the bathroom. I think I had to buy sheets, towels and dishes, pots & pans.

So, there I was, 20 years old and all set to change the world!