The Past

Businesses
Churches
Communities
Community Services
 ~ City Hall
 ~ Fire Department
 ~ Health Care
 ~ ~ Dr. Keith
 ~ ~ Dr. Kope
 ~ ~ Nursing in Enderby
 ~ ~ Public Health
 ~ Justice of the Peace
 ~ Library
 ~ Newspaper
 ~ Police Department
 ~ Post office
 ~ Telephones
Entertainment
Ethnic Groups
Geography
Heritage Homes
Industries
Organizations
People
Schools
Transportation

Museum page

Enderby & District Memorial Hospital,
Dedication Program, May 21, 1952

"So Enderby has actually got the new Hospital; truly a day of rejoicing. One's thoughts travel back to another opening celebration at which I was a visitor, and to quote a familiar phrase 'a good time was had by all', including mosquitos which attended in battalions.

"The celebration took place on lots donated by Mr. Samuel Polson, where the present, or I should say old Hospital now stands--a cottage then, but soon converted into a 9 bed Hospital. Previously patents had been cared for at a house at the corner facing the Railway, by Miss Warwick and later, Miss Davies (both graduate nurses). Following that, Mrs. McPherson (a practical nurse) took it over. Many alterations were made, a bathroom, kitchen and pantry added and finally a surgical annex.

"Dr. Keith performed the first major operation in the new operating room. As there were no furnishings or equipment he brought the table from his office. Sterilizing was an all night job on the kitchen stove then. However the patient made a splendid recovery.

"When Mrs. McPherson left, the Board decided it was time to organize a City Hospital, and put me in charge. The Rev. J. Scott was secretary, and his and Mrs. Scott's kind help will ever be remembered. As working necessities were practically nil, the Board was faced with heavy expenses, so we had to manage with as little help as possible. However I was fortunate in having a young nurse from Kamloops, Miss Leslie, who was just as keen as myself on getting things going. With a fine Board and a wonderful Auxiliary , as well as the kind and generous folk in and out of town, our little Hospital blossomed into something worth while.

"The nursery was our pride and joy; Dr. Keith made the wee cots himself and painted them white. The ladies of the Auxiliary made the mattresses, and how those women worked. In less than a month the linen cupboard was stocked and pantry shelves filled with crockery. Some of those friends have passed to their rest and left grateful memories. One thinks especially of Mrs. Jim Johnson, Mrs. Hedley Stevenson, Mrs. Rosoman and Mrs. Walker--Mrs. Carlson, too, with her constant gifts of fruit. Mr. Arthur Reeves was a kind friend to the little Hospital in the matter of supplies, and in the event of any difficulties arising, we found a kind and willing friend in Tom Kneale. Yes those were happy, busy days.

"More alterations were made and the Hospital grew as the town has expanded, and I am proud to think that some of our worthy citizens today, younger people with families of their own, have been given their first bath in the little old Hospital and are working and going to work to bring success to the new Hospital.

"In congratulating Enderby on the work of building this find Hospital, I feel compelled to pay a tribute to Dr. Keith, who did so much for the old Hospital. His wonderful personality will always be remembered. He was beloved by all, and his unselfish devotion to his patients was proverbial. From 1910 I worked with him, and never once did I hear an impatient word from him, or a complaint of being tired, even when exhausted from overwork. I feel he may be with us in spirit today and am so glad that after he passed on, the younger men who have followed and carried on his work are just the ones he would have chosen himself."

M. Bowes

For the early years of nursing, I think Miss Bowes summed it up very well in the program for the dedication of the new hospital.  I remember her as a gentle lady whom I used to deliver the newspaper to.

We knew the first hospital as the Webb house and the second as the white apartments across from the Senior Citizens Complex. The Hub cafe was the old operating room. This hospital I knew fairly well when my Mum was Matron for a short time. My first visit I went timidly to the door and as I opened it, a large voice boomed "Does anyone know I want to die." I heard this for over a year, each time I went to see Mum.

The maternity wing was upstairs where I saw the Lopuchuck triplets. There was no elevator and the floors were uneven. The beds wouldn't go through the doors and only one bed wound up. I remember Mum being very sick one time and in this bed. Andy and I were visiting her and the minister came in. As this bed was new and pretty special Andy wanted to show the minister just how it worked. As Andy wound mum kept saying "Andy that's enough." After repeating several times while Andy kept winding her voice changed to a sharper note and Andy stopped. After ahile the minister left and Mum said, "Andy can you go down and get some water for me?" then she said to me, "get me off this bed pan!" Close shave.

One cold night when Mum went to work at midnight she could smell wood burning. As the nurse going off duty had said she had just stoked the fire she didn't worry, but as the smell persisted she opened the trap door in the middle of the dining room and went downstairs to find the stove pipes red hot from stove to ceiling. The firemen came and put it out. And everything went on as it did before.

Each morning the kitchen fires were lit by the night nurse, so the kettle could be warmed for the cooks and the coffee. If you had a busy early morning, everybody had a late breakfast.

In about 1949 nurses' wages was increased to $100 a month from $60. Minimum wage was 60 cents an hour. In 1952 there was a great upheaval in RNABNC and wages were increased to $200 a month and each year or so after was increased by $1 an hour a day. There was a period of great upheaval in nursing at that time. When I retired the wages were about $10 an hour.

In April 1952 Pam Stephens (Booth) and I were on holidays for our Senior Year at Royal Inland Hospital. Mrs. Dill gave us a tour of the new 20 bed hospital. What a pretty sight. The rooms seemed so large, beds could be wheeled from one room to the other. The counters were of shiny black arbourite. They had a lab where the Dr. and nurses could do tests, and an OR and Case Room. The nursery was large; each basinet had its own cubicle with drawers. Each unit contained its own basin and anything needed for the baby. It was even better than what we had in the hospital in Kamloops. There were four or five of these basinets, as well as the white basinet from the old hospital that Dr. Keith made was kept as a spare and used often. There were 8 babies in the nursery when I had Ron in 1953. It was a busy time in Enderby at that time. We had an incubator, the preemies were fed with eye droppers and gavage tubes. I still see 2 of our 2 pound preemies busy around town.

Mrs. Dill was Matron of this new building. She had worked 12 years in the old hospital and continued for at least another 27 years. As Matron she was responsible for everything. As well as nursing care, she was operating room nurse, anesthetist, x-ray technician, responsible for ordering what the hospital needed and how funds were spent. Mrs. Cleland was a welcome receptionist and bookkeeper at that time.

Drs. Haugen from Armstrong and Dr. Alexander from Salmon Arm and sometimes a Dr from Vernon would come and assist with the anaesthesia and surgery, as would Dr. Kope for them. Often an extra nurse was called in if needed. Eleanor would take over the anesthetist job and the Dr. scrubbed in and would supervise the anesthesia from there. The scariest moment for my nursing career was continuing the anesthetic while Dr. Kope removed my son's tonsils. In the new hospital we had a beautiful sterilizer. Its only drawback was it would flood the OR and Case Room if you forgot to turn the taps off while filling it, but the Kitchen Staff usually alerted us. There were right below.

The earlier years of the new hospital the night nurse was alone 8 pm to 7 am and still lit the kitchen stove but the furnace was automatic. Any spare time was used in making peripads, 4 gauze wound dressings, sponges, etc. One summer I remember Verna Polson and I washed walls and ceilings in 2 wards before we had a busy period. It sure was hot as we still didn't have air conditioning.

When I first came to work as a casual in November 1952, Dr. Kope said, "Eleanor if you are half as good a nurse as your mother, you'll be okay." Mrs. Dill, Emily Jefcoat, Ella Zettergreen, Verna Polson, Dorothy Groat, Marion Stowards were some of the staff. Then names like Verna Klym, Marion Bragg, Mrs. Baptiste, Margaret Talbot, Alva Glen, Grace Blackburn, Dot Blackburn (Davyduke), Hazel Stordahl, Mrs. Almaas, Marg Kneale were added. As new Doctors like Dixon, Mabbott, Sawatzky, Wendland came they brought with them more knowledge and new techniques. Our hospital was lucky that our Doctors always kept up with what was going on at the time. They took new courses to keep abreast of what was new, as did younger nurses with new ideas and techniques and how to use new equipment supplied by our great auxiliary.

For many years Pam Booth, Carine Baird, Marlene Hay, Kay Paul, Alma Wert, Ernestine Runarnan, Emelia Gilowski contributed much more than called for. Each year new nurses arrived with new ideas, some from other hospitals, some fresh from school. I'll not list any more of the present staff.

I remember one evening in the early sixties, I was settling patients and the emergency door rang and Dot Davyduke answered it. I heard a loud cry "Eleanor!" as I turned I saw Dot heading for the case room. This wasn't like Dot so I ran and reached the OR in time to help Dot flip a lady on the Case Room table and at the same time we delivered a lovely baby with its head in a pair of underpants. Now Dot has a granddaughter of her own.

We have seen the miracle of sulfadrugs and penicillin to new antibiotics and open heart surgery, laser beam surgery, but the one of the greatest healing power is T.L.C. and Enderby Hospitals have always been tops in that.

I haven't mentioned the kitchen staff, the cleaning staff, maintenance, Lab and Xray, let alone the auxiliary. We've had the greatest and without them the nurses could not accomplish what they did.

Eleanor Hagardt
Enderby Museum 1995