St Boniface School of Nursing - Estole Fideles Yearbook (St Boniface, Manitoba Canada)

Page 9 text:

oaAiUtc the. To the Graduates of 1943: T O ADDRESS a parting word to the graduates of the Nursing School of our Hospital is a privilege which I deeply appreciate. I speak to you in the name of the attending Staff of St. Boniface Hospital with whom you have been intimately associated these past three years. It has been our lot to carry on the work of this large institution together in trying times. We have endeavored to teach you and to direct your efforts so that the most good would come to the patients entrusted to our joint care. At the same time we have done all in our power to develop your professional talents and sick-room attitude so that a graduate of our institution will be able to take her place among graduates of other hospitals with a feeling that she has had a course and training second to none. Conditions during your stay here have been such that the attend¬ ing medical staff and the nursing staff have both had to work under the stress of larger numbers of patients with less of our numbers to do the job. This has developed in you a greater capacity for respon¬ sibility and efficiency which will serve you in good stead in the future. We hope that you will remember us as doctors, teachers and friends, with whom, and under whose influence, you spent three of your formative years of life. We hope you will remember us as friends who have always striven to make you happy in your work, even though at times we have had to criticize and correct you. We will remember you as willing pupils whose devotion to duty and understanding of the sick, merit our thanks and appreciation; we will remember you as our helpers, always cheerful and happy to do your part. Now that you are about to leave us you will carry forth the name of our Hospital to the four comers of the world—a tribute to our efforts and a credit to yourselves and to our institution. President of Staff and Staff Executive. 7

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REMEMBER Nurses! You have heard your duty call Serving mankind one and all Regardless of color, race or creed Doing always a kindly deed. Nurses! Yours is a lofty aim Be ever true to your revered name, Be ever ready to lend your aid; Remember the vow that you have made Nurses! As long as man does ail Honor the name of Nightingale, Remember the cause you chose to serve From your duty never swerve.

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llelfUce. et P iXi4 fUce T he three years of didactic and practical instructions are approaching the climax of graduation. You have had to work hard; to sacrifice a great deal; you had to forego many of the pleasures and pleasantries that belong to girls during the blooming years of life. You have had to turn in not later than 10 p.m. when it seemed that another hour or two would have meant a little bit of additional heaven. . But what have you on the other side of the balance sheet? Surely there is no worthier career to be wished on any young lady. You must agree with me in your moments of peaceful meditation that nothing else could have given you greater satisfaction than the privileges your Alma Mater made possible for you. You have received a higher education—higher in the true sense of the word. You have had opportunities to come into most intimate contact with—and help perceptibly to re¬ lieve—human suffering, spiritual, as well as physical. It was, is and will be your lot to follow in the footsteps of such illustrious women as Elizabeth Fry, Elizabeth Black- well, Marie Zakrezewska, Florence Nightingale and Mde. Youville. I know from my personal observation of the ’43 class that the Sisters and all the rest of us, who are interested in your welfare, can expect great achievements from your future endeavors. One cannot help but refer to the colossal struggle that the world is subjected to at present. Surely the forces of evil will be overcome soon, and all the horrible carnage and misery that war inevitably brings will not have been in vain. Your predecessors from St. Boniface are reaping rewards of undying gratitude for the splendid work they are doing wherever they happen to be. Let us hope that whereas in the past the progress in the art of nursing was mainly due to the “impetus of religion, war and science,” in the future nursing will never need, nor have, war as a stimulus. The inevitable coming of “socialized” state medicine will bring greater demands than ever for nursing service both in the therapeutic and the preventative fields of medicine. What a vista of opportunities for creative work! In conclusion let me quote “—in this bivouac of life be not like dumb driven cattle; be a hero in the fight.” 8