Winnipeg General Hospital School of Nursing - Blue and White Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 22 text:

BLUE AND WHITE In C4HFI121nurizun + CAMELLA STEVENSON AND ETHEL PASK + Fond was the tie that was broken Dear the ones who are goneg In memory we shall keep them, As long as the years roll orzf' P If t

Page 21 text:

B LU E AN D WHITE That War record is something of which to be justly proud. It is also a challenge to us down the years. There are victories of peace for us to win-Uno less renouned than war. Many and varied have been the changes created in the School since its birth in 1877! Nursing activities have altered with the march of Science, and it has been necessary to keep a fairly flexible curriculum in order that our Nurse Education might fit the individual for her life experiences. In 1920, the Psychopathic Department was opened, and experience in this field was at once given to the student nurses. This arms the nurse with greater intelligence and understanding in the care of mentally ill. The old fearfulness that at one time gripped the heart of the nurse on being called to attend such a patient, has now given place to a feeling of strength and under- standing, and has resulted in better care of the patient. The year 1920 also saw the introduction of the eight-hour day for Student Nurses. When we realized the necessity of seeing the patient in the light of his past experience, as a unit in the social structure, and that his prob- lems, physical and mental, were the result of that past, we enlarged our Curriculum in 1923, to include an introduction to Social Service and Public Health fields. Truly, we had always been Public Health nurses , . . every nurse is that . . . but we came to realize that our service to the patient could be so inestimably greater, could we but understand the forces which were at work in bringing him into his present condition, and the need for completing that service by follow-up work after his discharge from the Hospital. This gave us a newer conception of Nursing as a more socialized work in contrast with the consideration of the patient merely in terms of his life within our Hospital walls. de Pls Pls FK We are passing through a very difficult era in Nurse Education. Our problems seem to in- crease in number and complexity. The general plan of Nurse Education is bound to change. The methods used in the early days of the School, while meeting the needs of professional life at that time, are not adequate for us today. Nor will our present methods be considered adequate for a later generation of student nurses. We are anxious to maintain an open mind on this subject, so that we will not fail in achiev- ing the purpose behind our very existence. Today, our School still calls to the hearts of young womanhood, drawing them into the field of service to humanity, offering them a rich op- portunity for self-development, for self-realiza- tion, and equipping them to take their places in the world's larger field of human endeavor. That Service is great! The needs of mankind were never more urgent and pressing than to- day. There are changes in the social structure, financial insecurity still threatens, a train of evils presses upon a society battling sometimes brokenly against unemployment and sickness. Society in its every phase suffers from the re- percussions of International disharmony, and the rumors of war. We look back over the story of the birth and development of the School and its Alumnae. It is a lovely mosaic of iieeting lights and shadows, of rich colors, and pastels, all built into its structure by that vast army of Graduates who call it Alma Mater. We follow them into their various spheres of activity in the great world beyond the walls of the School. There are those who scintilate among the leaders of our Pro- fession. There is also that myriad throng who, in the quiet, more obscure byways of life, have given themselves up to devoted service. They have gone to the far-Hung outposts of Empire, they serve in alien lands, and labor in the Mission Fields of life. With justifiable pride, we may say indeed, that our School of Nursing possesses an Alumnae upon which the sun never sets. S4 tis PK 214 They labor, that vast army of Women, to ease humanity of its suffering and distress, striving to bring the dawn of the true Brotherhood of Man. They recognize not the human-made boundaries of race and color, they have not hesitated before National and Social distinctions. P24 if Pl: Pls The rich story of the past should bring us to a more full realization of our endowment as a School. It should tend, strongly, to counteract the spirit of materialism that has had a tendency to creep into all social and professional groups. It should bring us to a very acute sense of our responsibility for the present and the future. Without that history, we would cease to be greater, or even as great as the institutions which we have inherited. And so we turn to face the future! lt is all unknown, but it holds very definite responsi- bilities. The Past has not failed us, and we must not break faith, by any act or word, with that past. Thus we join hands with the Past and the Future, knowing that whatever changes may come, one thing will remain . . . something very precious for us to nurture and enjoy . . . some- thing quite intangible . . . but sacred to the heart of every Alumnus . . . that is, the Spirit of the School. That Spirit makes an undeniable de- mand upon our lives, its voice is insistent, it demands our efforts, our loyalties. It is urgent in pressing its claims upon our efforts-that it might live! It is our rich heritage. It calls us- To prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. E. M. MCD. Page Thirteen

Page 23 text:

X T. I N R