1973-74

As I look at retiring from 33 years of nursing I wanted to reflect back on how I got into nursing and what that 1st year of training was like. Back in 1971-72 I was working in a little boarding home. I worked some nites and some pm's. Mostly I was an attendant as this was not a nursing home and I cooked meals and was sort of the caretaker during my shift. There was about 15 female patients there and had to be able to care for themselves. The gal, Lois, who ran the home was going to school to get her LPN license. So when I would come to work at 11pm she would be sitting there with her books out and we'd talk. She encouraged me to look into a scholorship and going to school too. I guess I was put in that one place at the right time because I'm sure I would never have thought to go ahead with nursing without her encouragement. I certainly had never had any great desire for this or any career. My first husband and I with 2 small children had bought 5 acres and put our mobile home on it. we had no running water for about 6 mo. till we could get a well drilled. So everyday I'd take all these gal. jugs into town to my mothers and use a hose and fill them all. When we took baths{one after the other} the water was used to flush the toilet. We had a long driveway thru the woods and till we could get it graveled there were many days it was to muddy to drive thru so we used the kids wagon and pulled it thru the trees with the water jugs. I got a job at a nursing home as an aide and worked nites on Fri and Sat so I could have gas money for the next week to go to school. At this time my daughter was starting kindergaren {BTW the year she graduated from highschool I also graduated again with RN degree} But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This year 73-74 I spent 12 mo. going to school for my LPN license. I did get the grant to pay for tuition and books. For clinical we wore white pinafores and blue blouses. I had this short stout New England instructor, Mrs. Johnson who was a real gem. I remember her riding in an elevator at the hosp. with me and she was eye level with my ears and she said "what's that in your ear?" Rhinestone ear rings. They had to go! Pinafore length and graduation uniform had to be exactly midknee.

A couple weeks before graduation {I was 3rd in the class} I was told that I should not have been allowed to attend class because I was a high school drop out and only had a certificate from a correspondance school. So I had to go to the Deans office the very next day and take the GED test, whick I passed OK.

These 12 mo. were very hard to get thru, with family, work, and study. My son was quite taken with learning medical terminology, he was about 8. I remember him getting stung by a wasp and telling people he got stung on his clavicle.
So I graduated in May and started to work right away as a new grad at something like 3.75$ per hr. I worked in a small very rural hospital which was very good to get some early experience. A year later I transfered to a "real" hospital in a bigger town about 15 miles away. It was here that I learned my OB skills.

So looking back, I wish I could thank my mother for her help with taking care of my daughter in the AM's and getting her to her afternoon kindergarten class. {And to thank Lois for her encouragement.} Then both kids would ride the bus home and one of us would be home. I think the scarriest time was that 1st year of working nites, Husb #1 had to leave for work about 45 min before I would get home so the kids were left alone during that time trying to get ready for school till I got there to see them off to the bus!. Now I'd be arrested for child neglect. They were about 7&9. But they never burned down the huse. I wonder if they remember anything about that year.

So now all these years later I will hang up my nursing "hat" and be a storekeep for FUN. Wish me luck