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

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« ««♦ . . ft , ” »•. .til • » • « h » m 1 i fe € » . i i ” j HOSPITAL REFLECTIONS As travellers oft look back at eve When onward darkly going, To gaze upon the light they leave Still faint behind them glowing. So as the years roll gently on And all things do remind us, ’Tis sweet to catch one parting ray, Of the days we’ve left behind us. T HE other day a terrible commotion greeted my ears as I walked down the corridor at the Annex. I wondered where the horrible noise came from, and, on glancing around a corner, discovered that its source was the suc¬ tion in the O.R. This wonderful creation seems to us, who are used to sciences more modern wonders, to be a relic of the Middle Ages. But it started me thinking and I couldn’t help but wonder what work in a hospital must have been like in the days before lazy people discovered many short cuts. And this led to speculation on how St. Boniface Hospital had reached its present modern, well-equipped status. So I got out my book and this is what I found. The first St. Bonface Hospital was erected in 1871 and contained four beds for patients and only the bare necessities for their comfort. In 1887 it was enlarged to receive ten patients and further extensions were made in 1886 and 1893. In 1894 the first resident interne was accepted. Things had begun to 3

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Dr. A. C. Abbott Dr. D. Black Dr. W. F. Abbott Dr. W. A. Black Dr. E. P. Angelle Dr. N. Book Dr. V. F. Bachynski Dr. J. J. Bourgouin Dr. K. J. Backman Dr. G. Brock Dr. R. 0. Burrell Dr. M. Carbotte Dr. A. G. Dandena ' Dr. C. W. Duncan Dr. H. M. Edmison Dr. H. Funk Hollenberg Clinic Dr. A. M. Goodwin Jr. J. P. Howden Dr. A. T. Gowron Dr. R. L. Howden Dr. G. D. Graham Dr. L. Kobrinsky Dr. H. Guyot Dr. S. Kobrinsky Dr. G. A. Law Dr. M. MacKay Dr. D. S. McEwen Dr. K. C. McGibbon Dr. P. H. McNulty Dr. A. P. MacKinnon Dr. S. S. Peikoff Dr. F. T. Miles Dr. J. Prendergast Dr. H. T. J. Nylander Dr. M. Rady Dr. 1 . Pearlman Dr. C. R. Rice Dr. G. H. Shapera Dr. E. W. Stewart Dr. D. Wheeler 2

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prosper and there was even an operating room where Dr. H. A. Ferguson, afterwards a famous physician of Chicago, did most of his surgery. In 1897 the School of Nursing was opened and five pupils admitted. The course required two years and consisted of anatomy and physiology, pathology, hygiene, principles and practise of medicine, materia medica, surgery and bandaging, gynecology, obstetrics, diseases of children, and diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Examinations were written and oral, and the names of the doctors giving the lectures were announced in the local paper. Sister Parent was the first superintendent of nurses. In 1899 there were 8 nurses, 1 interne, 24 sisters, 8 working men and 24 working girls, 8 orderlies one of whom received a “nursing diploma.” Patients were cared for in their homes as well as the hospital. Not only the nurses but also the sisters went to the country when called by a doctor. At this time the bed capaeiy of the hospital was 126, with 2 operating rooms, a dressing room, and a sterilizing room. In 1899 St. Roch’s Hospital for contagious diseases was established, with a capacity of 47 patients. In 1905 the large south wing was added, giving St. Boniface Hospital 350 beds for patients. The X-ray department was established in 1912 and in 1913 a laundry was built. But there still wasn’t enough room to meet the demands of ever-advancing science so in 1914 the central wing was demolished and on its site the present structure rose, six stories high and absolutely fireproof. In 1920 the St. Boniface Hospital was recognized by the American College of Surgeons as a class A-l hospital. St. Roch’s hospital was remodelled in 1923 and then gave accommodation to 100 patients. In that year the whole hospital boasted the ability to shelter 475 patients, and maintain a staff of 110 nurses, 50 Sister, 6 internes and about 100 employees. In 1926 the two storey building to house the internes was erected, and in 1927 construction of the Nurses Home began. It was opened early in 1928. Most recent additions are the Sanitorium with 300 beds, and a large out-patient department building. In 1942 the patients from the St. Roch’s were transfer¬ red to the second floor of the O.P.D. and the hospital turned into a home for the women employees. So now we find that St. Boniface Hospital offers to everyone, with 550 to 575 beds, and 300 more at the Sanitorium, and a large number of outpatients. Its personnel consists of 50 Sisters, 52 Graduate nurses, 175 student nurses, 25 internes, 7 orderlies and over 150 professional and non-professional technicians and helpers. It’s a marvellous record and a fine example of what cooperation and strong resolve can do. Amongst the Sisters and doctors as well as graduate nurses we meet every day, are many who have toiled to bring this hospital to the high standard it proudly maintains. But can any student nurse today imagine herself not in the modern, fully- equipped, residence, but living perhaps on Joan of Arc Ward? Can she picture herself doing her work with only half the sterilized equipment and without such things as electric uctions, electric floor polishers, private rooms complete with bathroom, and other such conveniences? Can the probationers picture them¬ selves doing a full eight hours of duty and taking their heavy course of studies as well? It has been done, and not so very long ago. I’m not trying to say that today a nurse’s training is a bed of roses because there is still lots of hard work and gruelling routine. But I think we some¬ times fail to recognize how much the perseverance and thoughtfulness of those before us has done towards making our training easier. So in the course of our work, when we come in contact with people, as well as articles, which we think should be relegated to an antique shop, we’ll have to remember and say, “Perhaps, somewhere, sometime, you may have con¬ tributed to the high standard of proficiency I have benefited from, as a student in the St. Boniface Hospital.” Ruth Webster, Class of ’45. 4