“I didn’t like [leaving home] very much because I got very lonely and I didn’t want to leave home… but I had to do something. So I came into training. I loved it!” Whiteway (34)
The interviews generally began with the question “Why did you choose nursing as a career?” This question elicited information not just about their career choice but also about the impact of their decision. The participants told stories about the preparations required to enter nursing, leaving home for the first time, and the costs associated with acquiring the essentials needed for nursing school.
Career Choice: As you will find with nursing students today, those who chose nursing in the 1920s, 30s and 40s did so for various reasons. A childhood wish, family tradition, fascination with the uniform were but some of the factors which motivated these women to enter the nursing profession. Nurse (44) knew as a child that nursing was what she wanted to do, “When I was 10 or 11, I really wanted to be a nurse and then as we went through school, the principal would say ‘Are you sure you want to be a nurse?’ But anyway… I really wanted to be a nurse. But then, by the time I got in, I wasn’t quite sure. We used to have this little joke and we’re going home Tuesday (laughter)! I don’t know why Tuesday. But it was quite the shock, you know.” For Moakler (ffl), it was the nurse’s uniform, “You won’t believe this but on Bell Island we had a company surgery… and I would see the nurse coming down over the steps each morning with her white uniform and her cape and her hat and I thought that looks some gorgeous. So I wanted to be a nurse.” Both the uniform and family tradition influenced House’s (47) decision to enter nursing, “My sister was 14 years older than me and she trained at the Royal Vic in Montreal. And I think it was her uniform at first (laughter). I was determined that I was going to wear a uniform like her… when I was about seven years old. And from then on, I wanted to be a nurse, you know.”
During the 1930s and 40s, women who wanted a career did not have the choices that exist today. Women were expected to enter primarily female dominated professions, their choices were also restricted by family finances or geography. In many respects, nursing was an attractive career choice for a woman. Those who entered nursing did so as an apprentice, in that once the applicant entered the school of nursing she was provided for by the agency in return for her service. This form of education opened the door for many young women who might not otherwise have been able to pursue a career. Tobin (44), “I suppose at that time when I finished school, there were not too many choices available for us. Either you were going to be a teacher, a nurse, or you were going into the convent. So, I just decided that I would like to be a nurse.” Bruce (43) also alluded to limited choice, “You did not have the choice back then, as you do now, not that it would have made any difference because I really enjoyed my training. My dad used to talk about nursing when I got into high school so it was sort of taken for granted that I was going to be a nurse.” This external influence on the individual’s decision to enter nursing was reported by other participants. When asked why she chose nursing, Sister Fabian (42) responded, “I think I was just asked if I would like nursing… the hospital was just opening and they wanted to find somebody who would be prepared for the future.” In Godden’s (38) case, her nursing career began as a result of the physician she worked with, “I worked at the Fever for years, not as a trained nurse… Dr. Milestone was the doctor and he gave me the opportunity to go to the General and train as a nurse and I did.” Taylor (47) studied in England, “… right from the time I was a teenager I thought of being a missionary and I wanted to be a doctor… but that was during the war, the end of the war and women doctors were not too plenty and you couldn’t get into training. I became a nurse. I didn’t have any idea what I was going into.”
For some, the desire to be a nurse was very strong and to that end they were prepared to do whatever necessary to fulfil their dream. Williams (35) pursued her dream to be a nurse despite her mother’s misgivings: “I used to say, ‘I’m going to be a nurse, mom. I’m going in for training.’ And she said, ‘That’s what you’re not! Go in there and the dirty old bedpan. You’d have to view all that and take it away from the patients.’ She was… trying to turn me from it. I said, ‘No mom, I don’t think I’ll mind that.’ And she did everything in the world to keep me from going in. And I wrote a letter to Miss Fagner… she [mom] didn’t know anything about it. I sent in an application and the next thing I got a letter back saying that I was accepted. And I showed it to her. ‘Oh,’ she said ‘I suppose I’ll have to consent to you going.’ I said, ‘Yes, I want to go in as a nurse’.” For Mifflin (39) the desire to be a nurse was such that she gave up her teaching job to go into training, “I always wanted to be a nurse. I was a teacher for nine years. I wanted to be a nurse. I saved some money purposely so I could go. I really wanted to be a nurse and eventually, I am.”
Whiteway (34) captured the mixed feelings that she and probably many of the respondents grappled with when making their career decision “[in the beginning] I didn’t like it because I got very lonely. I didn’t want to leave home… but I had to do something. So I came into training. I loved it.” Regardless of why they chose nursing, each of these women saw nursing as an opportunity. While some responses suggest that the choice of nursing was not always an informed one, once undertaken these women pursued their career with commitment and pride.
Admission Process/Intakes: Having made the decision to enter nursing, admission to the school of nursing appeared to be comparatively easy. When one considers the rigorous process that students undergo to get into nursing school today, those interviewed revealed that the admission/application process was much simpler, although admission standards did exist. The common admission requirements to emerge from the interviews was that applicants had to be at least 18 years of age and had to have successfully completed high school (grade 11). House, “We had to apply and we had to be 18 and pass grade eleven.” Several of the participants indicated that they had to complete an application and medical form, however, it seemed there was not too much structure to the admission process. In one case, the individual dropped in to see the director of nursing while visiting St. John’s and was admitted to the program that day. French (39), “When I was a child, my parents never asked me what I wanted to do when I left school because they were always afraid I was going to do something and leave home. Anyway, one day I was in town with a relative of mine from Cupids and I told her that I was going into training. So, we traveled to the General and I asked to see Miss Taylor [superintendent of nurses]. When I went in and introduced myself and told her that I wanted to go into training she told me, ‘okay.’ So I went in and filled out my application after I was already in.” King (48) shared a similar story when asked about her choice of nursing, a decision she made only weeks before the February class was to enter, “I worked in the bank [for six or seven months] and when I was interviewed, they did not think that it was going to be my life. I told Miss Oak that I was not happy at the bank and she said that Jean Oak was going into training… so, I decided then to go with her. I had to rush and get all of my medical things done and I went up to the school, saw Miss Smith and I was accepted.”
It was not until 1935 that students at the General School of Nursing were admitted to nursing as a group. Prior to that, students were admitted to nursing one by one throughout the year, usually when there was a bed available for them in residence. From 1935 onwards, there were usually two student intakes per year in September (B group) and February (A group). Depending on which participant you talked to, each group was either considered a distinct class or one class with two sections but most of the participants indicated whether they were in either the A or B class. In some cases, both groups shared lectures as they progressed through the program or where student numbers were really small. As a rule, both groups graduated together in the summer or fall of their graduation year. The number of students entering each class varied, with the larger group entering in the fall and a smaller number each spring. Class size increased during the 1940s, however, student attrition over the three years was high. Higgins (48) reported that 17 entered her class in February of 19ffl, but only seven graduated. Entry dates for a class varied each year with students entering as early as June for the fall class and January for the spring class. Bruce gives an example of some of the factors influencing the admission of students, “If I remember correctly, we were considered the first big class… there were 40 of us… there were two classes a year. One came in January and the other in September. The reason we did not get in until November was because I did not get my telegram stating that the entrance time was delayed. I believe it had to do with construction of what we referred to at that time as ‘The New Home’.”
Preparations for Nursing: Although the students’ room and board were provided for once she was admitted to the school of nursing, getting ready to go in was the responsibility of the student and her family. Students were required to supply their own uniforms and other required items of wear which were made by the students’ mother or purchased in bulk. Either way, preparing the necessities for nursing school was an expense for the family. Avery (ffl), “Now we were supplied with room and board and most of the clothing that we needed was bought in bulk before we went in. We bought uniforms, bibs and aprons in the package; we bought our stockings and underwear separate[ly].” When asked about preparations for nursing, Tobin responded, “My mother is a saint. We had to have four dresses which had to be 12 inches from the floor in your stocking feet. We had to have 14 bibs and aprons and then seven collars and cuffs that had to be snapped through the short sleeves at that time. My mother spent the entire summer measuring. We also needed so many pairs of flannel pyjamas, stripped pyjamas, slips and nylon stockings.” Williams, “At that time, we had to get our dresses made. We were supposed to have two dresses, blue, and we were supposed to have four white aprons. My mother made every one of them… and she didn’t mind one bit then. When she got all that done, she was so glad, you know.”
Some of the respondents came into nursing either during or shortly after the Depression and the decision to enter nursing was not always an easy one for their family. Dalley (39), “When I told her I wanted to be a nurse mom said to me ‘My dear, I got no money to buy you uniforms and stuff like that.’ And I said ‘Well, perhaps I won’t have to buy them.’ So anyway, one day I get this letter telling me all I had to get and the money it would cost. Mom said, ‘Eleanor, my dear, we can’t afford to give you that.’ So I never said anything. Mom had a sister who was a teacher… and I said to mom ‘I’m going up to Aunt Francine and I’m going to ask her if she’d loan me the money.’ So that is what I did and she loaned me the money for my uniforms and stuff and to pay my way. She said ‘Eleanor, if anything ever happens to you before you finish training, I’ll never ask your mother for the money.’ I said, ‘alright Aunt Francine and my first cheque will come to you.’ It’s not that we were poor but there was a Depression.”
Applicants were also responsible for books, shoes, personal items, such as toiletries, and once in the program, ongoing laundry costs related to the uniform such as getting collars and cuffs starched. Dalley, “All the laundry was done by the Chinaman… we had to pay for it ourselves. Some of it was expensive. It all depended on what you had done.” When asked if she had to pay for books, Williams responded, “I had to have $50 to show when I got in training. My dad was a captain of a vessel for a man up in Harbour Buffet and, only for him, I wouldn’t have been able to do it, my dear. Them times it [money] was hard to get.”
Leaving Home: Making the decision to leave home to pursue a career could not have been easy. Most regions of Newfoundland were somewhat to very isolated prior to 1949. Travel was not easy. The nurses interviewed came from all geographical regions of the province as did the majority of those entering nursing during that time. Most of these women left home for the first time to travel alone on long journeys by boat and/or train. They arrived in St. John’s not knowing anyone. When asked if it was difficult to leave home to go into nursing, Merrigan (39) said, “You did not know much, whatever you knew you were taught at home. I left one day in 1935… I can see mom now, up to the window crying.” House was one of the fortunate ones, “I had never been out of Twillingate and then to go away into St. John’s… I was lucky in a way because my mother kept a boarding house and a lot of people from St. John’s would board with her. When they knew I was there they all more or less took pity on me. They’d take me out to dinner and take me to their homes.”
Travel arrangements depended on the boat schedule, and in some cases, the individual had to leave home well in advance of the program’s start date. This was the case for House, “We would go by boat all the way. Now, my class started in March and I had to… well it was frozen up in the winter and I left on the last trip of the motor vessel Glenco and went from Twillingate to St. John’s, which was supposed to be about a ten-day trip. And then, I was in two months before training started, so they let me stay at the Residence and I worked over in the Admitting Office just to help out, you know, and I suppose to pay for my board. They didn’t charge me board but they let me stay there until classes started.” When asked how she got to St. John’s from Woody Island, Williams responded, “We had to get in a boat and go to Swift Current. And there was a Mr.W.B. and he had… what I calls an old jalopy. I don’t know if ’twas a truck or a car but there was only room for me to get up into it with him and that’s who’d take me over to the train. The train used to come to Goobies and you’d get on the train and go to St. John’s.”
In some cases the individual might not return home until vacation the next year or until after she had graduated. This would depend on a variety of factors: the boat schedule, how much time the student had off, how far the individual lived outside St. John’s, the weather and whether the individual and her family could afford the passage. While being away from family was difficult very often the homes of classmates in or near St. John’s became a home away from home. Nurse, “And I could get home… and we’d all go home then. I remember I’d call my mother and say, ‘We’re coming up.’ And she’d say, ‘How many?’ And I didn’t know why she wanted to know how many. She’d have hot chocolate and the works for all of us to study. You know, I had no sisters but every one of them was just like sisters.”