In July 1979, Judy Schultz began her general nursing training at Mater Public Hospital. As we celebrate 100 years of Mater Adult Hospital, Judy shares her story of the changing face of nursing at Mater.
My personal association with Mater began when I was born here nearly 50 years ago, and continued with the birth of my twin sons in 1986.
I commenced my general nursing training in July 1979, I would never have thought that I would still be here over 30 years later. Most of my training was completed at the original Mater Public Hospital—now the Whitty Building— and since then I have worked in many areas of Mater Adult Hospital including medical, surgical and oncology; workplace health and safety; and in my present position in the Medical Imaging Department where I have worked part time for the last 10 years.
I wasn’t fortunate enough to live in St Mary’s Nurses Quarters, but have great memories of enjoying morning tea of cakes and biscuits with fellow students. Back then, student nurses and the Sisters sat separately from each other.
The Nightingale wards in the original adult hospital had one shower and one bathroom for 36 patients— you were very efficient and always made sure you had your allocated six patients sponged before morning tea. I remember as a second or third year student I was in charge of a ward with a junior nurse or nurse’s aide to help, which seems very scary today.
As a junior nurse I had to wake the patients who wished to receive Holy Communion at 5.30 am. The beds had to be tidied and straightened, and the flowers removed before the priest arrived at 6 am. I would then meet the nurse from the ward nearest with a candle to lead the priest to the correct patient’s bed. In that half hour period we always hoped that the patient hadn’t fallen back to sleep and was still upright and alert!
The funniest thing I remember from my training days was looking after a immuno-suppressed patient in laminar flow. Everything for these patients had to be wiped down with Medol and heated or sterilised in the steam steriliser. I soon learnt magazines or newspapers didn’t steam very well and overheating a tin of food led to baked beans dripping from the ceiling.
When we moved into the new Mater Adult Hospital in 1981 it was very different as we weren’t able to see our patients from a central area. I think we walked much further going in and out of smaller wards. The buzzer system was very efficient in assisting patients rather than relying on patients calling out to you, especially at night. While it was exciting moving into the new hospital with the latest technology, I felt that some of the camaraderie between fellow students was lost because of the reconfiguration of wards.
I applied for the position of Mater Adult Hospital representative for the Mater Nursing and Midwifery Alumni and was appointed to the alumni council in 2010. I feel very honoured being able to represent the hospital, and feel that it is important to remember the past ways of providing care to our patients without as much technology as is available today. The alumni is a way to remember the past and move towards the future.
Having worked in both the old and new hospitals I feel that there are probably pros and cons for both— but I can proudly say that I have enjoyed my time at Mater.