Houlton Regional Hospital celebrates nurses

Gloria Austin, Special to The County
12 years ago

Houlton Regional Hospital celebrated Nurses Appreciation Day with a luncheon and illustrative narration of the earlier period of nursing to today and what is expected for tomorrow.
Tom Moakler, CEO of Houlton Regional Hospital, welcomed each of the nurses in attendance and then Doris Kennedy, director of nursing at HRH, began the program.
    “We want to recognize those who laid the foundation in this community,” she said. “We’d also like to show you a glimpse of our world today. The basics are still there, our love and compassion for people, and the passion to return people to their optimum health. It has been the advances in medicine, treatment, equipment and regulations that nurses have had to adapt to.”
Retired nurse Dot Campbell, 89, was especially pleased with the honor.
“This is a very special day to me,” she said. “I can’t believe I have lived long enough to see it after all I have been through healthwise. It’s surprising how many [former nurses] are still around and [to see all] the pictures of people that I knew. The younger ones have changed a lot that I worked with.”
But even more priceless for Campbell was attending the luncheon with her great-granddaughter Emily Little, who has completed her second year of nursing at Liberty University.
“I originally wasn’t going to study nursing,” said Little, who was pursuing physical therapy. “Then the Lord worked in my heart. I wasn’t thinking too much about the family history until I went for nursing. Being here today, it is neat to see where nursing has come from to where it is today. There is so much we don’t know coming into it – we get a little history — but not like this. Seeing all the pictures and instruments is really neat.”
Little was wearing a copy of the uniform her great-grandmother wore during her training years. Campbell started nursing in 1943 and retired in 1986.
“I worked all departments,” she said. “We were very shorthanded of nurses.”
Campbell explained many nurses married soldiers and they went away, while others left home during the war for better paying jobs.
“A nurse’s life was hard and strict. It was like being in the Army,’ said Campbell. “Follow the rules or else.”
Earlier nurses were on call night or day. But, as hard as it was when she nursed, Campbell has deep respect for the younger generation of nurses.
“I feel for them because now it is a lot more hazardous than with us,” she said. “We never even thought about insurance until 15 years before I retired. It is so much more complicated, although it has come so far. But, at the same time, they have to learn so much more — with new diseases and treatments — than we had to.
“”I know Emily has a hard course ahead of her, but she will succeed and be a very loving and caring nurse,” added Campbell. “I am very proud of her and pray for her everyday.”
Around the education center meeting room, a timeline of nurses’ items, photographs and equipment were displayed.
“One cannot think of nursing without association with Florence Nightingale,” said Kennedy. “She laid the foundation of our career around 1860. Her philosophy was reflected in her pledge that we still in some form recite today.”
Two of Priscella ‘Sita” Brannen Swallow’s daughters repeated the same oath as their mother.
Swallow began her career in 1948, retiring in 1965, but working until 1978. Swallow’s mother was a practical nurse in their community.
“She was self-taught,” said Swallow. “She’d go with doctors when they did home deliveries. If someone had a croupy kid, they’d call mother to come and help. She was a natural nurse.”
Not only did Swallow follow in her mother’s footsteps, but Swallow’s own daughters became nurses through her influence.
“I did,” said Wendy Furrow. “When I was a little girl, I remember her getting ready for work with her white shoes and white hat. She was beautiful.”
And, Lisa Gallagher said she went into the nursing field because she “admired her mother.”
“She looked wonderful when she went to work,” Gallagher said. “People from Oakfield to Merrill would call in the middle of the night for whatever reason and mother always went.”
Swallow is “happy” and “proud” that her daughters followed suit.
Kennedy read an 1887 job description of a nurse and related it to today’s standards in a humorous way. Lois Turley, an RN, found the ad in her mother’s Bible.
In addition for caring for 50 patients, each nurse will follow these regulations:
1. Daily sweep and mop the floors of your ward, dust the patient’s furniture and windowsills — today that is infection control.
2. Maintain an even temperature in your ward by bringing in a scuttle of coal for the day’s business — today patient comfort.
3. Light is important to observe the patient’s condition. Therefore, each day fill kerosene lamps, clean chimneys and trim wicks. Wash the windows once a week — today nursing assessment.
4. The nurse’s notes are important in aiding the physician’s work. Make your pens carefully; you may whittle nibs to your individual taste — today legal documentation.
5. Each nurse on day duty will report every day at 7 a.m. and leave at 8 p.m. except on the Sabbath on which day you will be off from 12 noon to 2 p.m. — today punctuality.
6. Graduate nurses in good standing with the director of nurses will be given an evening off each week for courting purposes or two evenings a week if you go regularly to church — today compensation of benefits.
7. Each nurse should lay aside from each pay day a goodly sum of her earnings for her benefits during her declining years so that she will not become a burden. For example, if you earn $30 a month you should set aside $15 — today fiscal management and responsibility.
8. Any nurse who smokes, uses liquor in any form, gets her hair done at a beauty shop, or frequents dance halls will give the director of nurses good reason to suspect her worth, intentions and integrity — today maintaining professionalism.
9. The nurse who performs her labors and serves her patients and doctors without fault for five years will be given an increase of five cents a day, providing there are no hospital debts outstanding — today following policy and procedure.
“They had nine points, we have 10 pages,” Kennedy smiled.
The whole afternoon was centered on how the nursing profession has changed, and how it will continue to change. Houlton Regional Hospital wants to continue their timeline, “like an ongoing scroll,” said Kennedy.
Lisa Perfitt was on hand with camera to capture the nurse’s photographs, while Tom Estrabrook  videotaped the event and stories told by the nurses. The nurses also were entertained in song by Dr. Donald Brushett, Carole Bates, RN, Dr. Philip McFarland and Dr. Chet Husted.
The former caretakers and today’s nurses watched three videos — the first, a depiction of the past; the second, a film of what nursing is like today done by a professional using HRH’s employees and lastly, they watched a video of southern Maine nurses performing their jobs provided by Maine Partnership and Healthcare to get a glimpse of influences that affect nursing for the future.
“Remember happy times and recognize familiar faces,” said Kennedy.