by admin | Jul 14, 2013 | General Collection, Matron AE Wilcox, Staff - nursing
Cleaning and dusting were part of the nurses’ daily chores in her care of her young charges. All cots and 4 posters were to be in alignment in the ward. Nets folded neatly and uniformly. Lockers cleared of ‘kid’s stuff’ and remembering hospitalisation was lengthy and kids notoriously like collecting ‘junk’!!! Quilts and sheets were mitred and the children all quietly in bed. Matron Wilcox would be accompanied by the Charge Nurse and the student nurse rostered to Peters Ward or Babies Ward. The Matron being of short stature would stand on a chair and run her fingers along the privacy screen track in search of dust particles!!!! There was many a mischievous long term patient who would delight seeing ‘their nurse’ the target of the Matron’s wrath!!! – Steph Shannon recalling student nurse days 1950s Matron A E...
by admin | Jul 7, 2013 | Paediatric, Staff - nursing
Sister Edith Graham joined the staff of Ipswich Hospital in 1953. She moved to the Children’s Ward in 1955 and was appointed Sister-in-Charge, a position she held until her retirement in 1972. Sr Graham was fondly referred to as ‘Granny Graham’ by the student nurses, although it is understood that she did not approve of this nickname. Her colleague Sr Stephanie Shannon recalls “to student nurses and young interns Graham sailed a ‘tight ship’…under her long watch she steered all in her care safely and diligently. She set high standards of nursing care and demanded the same from those who worked with her…Her clinical observation skills were highly astute in an era prior to ‘the age of technology’ and this was never so evident as with the very sick child in the ward.” Margaret McFarlane (Director of Nursing) wrote on Sr Graham’s service card that she gave “20 years of enthusiastic service in the area of paediatrics…[she] displayed a deep understanding of sick children’s needs but was impatient with parents’...
