THE LAST OF SUMMERS AT HOME

I remember one of my good friends and her falling in love.  I went back and forth from Duke to Greensboro on the bus.  On the way back in early 1954, I met a very handsome sailor, MELVIN GUINN. We quickly made friends, talked all the way to Durham and made plans for him to come and see me at Duke.  As life unfolded, I had the blind date with HERMAN BUNCH, got pinned and forgot about MELVIN GUINN.  As young impulsive sailors are, he showed up at the dormitory one Friday evening. Scared me to death. I was in a panic.  We had a long chat in the parlor as I explained the events of the last few months since I had seen him.  I offered to find a blind date for him and his friend.  ELINOR EMERY was a good friend and she agreed, although reluctantly, to go out and we found a friend for his friend.  The rest is a story of friendship between Elinor and I until her death in recent years.  She rode many miles on a bus to come to my wedding.  One of the very important things about Elinor was that she might well have been the best nurse among our crew.  She raised four boys, pretty much alone, and worked as a shift staff nurse at GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL in Atlanta until her belated retirement.  She loved nursing and loved working at GRADY which was a huge hospital serving the poorest among us. I, as a JOINT COMMISSION SURVEYOR had the privilege of visiting GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.  I asked the Nursing Administrator about her and she told me that she was due to come on duty at 3 and she would let her know I was there.  Elinor never forgave me.  She was not accustomed to being called to the office of the NURSING EXECUTIVE.  She arrived wearing her DUKE HAT AND PIN and we had a great visit.  The most important thing was to have the nursing leadership at GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL tell me of her dedication and contributions to nursing.  She spent many more hours that any one of the rest of us doing the basic nursing things that are so critical to each patient.  Here’s to you girl!  Our last visit was in Savannah GA when some of the class got together at the home of MARY ANN EDENS (WINGFIELD) shortly before her death. Mary Ann was the Director of Nursing for Delta Airlines, SUE GREENWOOD(HEAD) who became beloved as a professor, KATY KELLER(MAULTSBY) who also taught so many Nurses in Burlington….I genuinely apologize…Does anyone know who else was there?

That second semester at Duke was indeed formative and exciting for me and for each of my classmates.  Many of us found our beginning directions.  I may be wrong on the exact facts but we in so many ways set our on an exciting life and career.  I find it very difficult to separate the career from personal life – this was one of the issues of that time in life and has continued throughout my life.  We did not compartmentalize our lives into family, work, church, etc. etc.  We lived it all together.  We were all very busy trying to make sure our grades (there were no such thing as grade point averages) were good so that we could return next semester.  We were busy finding love and enjoying our new found freedoms. 

The summer came way too soon.  I had to leave HERMAN BUNCH and my life at DUKE to be home for the summer.  I returned to work at WESLEY LONG HOSPITAL after six weeks at OLD MILL CAMP as a counselor.  It was my last time to do both these things for after this summer, I would be totally immersed in NURSING.  I was welcomed back to WESLEY LONG with open arms.  I was viewed with greater respect though I do not know why.  I certainly knew very little more than I knew before I left for DUKE except about art, religion, and the other liberal arts courses.  But I loved the new assignments.  I spent a month as the director of the CENTRAL SERVICES….well, the only employee there.  I used what I had learned in my earlier orientation to all the sterilization procedures.  I have had a great lifelong respect for INFECTION CONTROL issues, mainly because of this experience.  I was given an opportunity to spend time in the delivery room, the nursery and the emergency room.  Of course these experiences were sandwiched between regular nurse aide chores but to me they were very remarkable. 

One evening they could find no one else and I was drafted to go into the delivery room.  At that time, you opened a can of ether and dropped it onto a mask.  I was asked to do just that.  The doctor simply told me to give the patient a few more drops, or give her some oxygen …from the bottom of the table.  I am sure that this practice would not happen today. We used ether, which was not locked down, for cleaning things as well as anesthesia.  We were dangerous and did not know it.  However, we were careful.  It was not until I saw the movie, CIDER HOUSE RULES that I really remembered this practice recognized the implications.

I loved being in the nursery and feeding the babies.  We did all the work so the mothers could rest for their week in the hospital, feasting on lush meals, getting red roses, and lounging. We gave them immaculate peritoneal care with heat lights that they loved.   We took the babies out to see the mothers in the mornings and the evenings when there were no visitors.  I loved setting up the babies for their families to look through the huge window.   We would hold them up and undress them a little so the dads and grandparents could see all their toes and fingers.  

One of the little ones did damage to my FRATERNITY PIN.  The baby grabbed it and broke the chain.  That means that we did not wear over garments.  Why I was wearing the pin on a scrub dress is beyond me.  This reminds me…. We came to work and had to change clothes before we went into the nursery.  A clean sterilized scrub dress was donned before this important job.  I believe that the practice today… of coming to work with in very clean areas with uniforms done at home—has increased infection issues to a huge degree.  We all know human nature and how well things are laundered, how often they are changed and where they go before they come into areas such as INTENSIVE CARE.  Color me cautious.  I would return to the hospital LAUNDERING and supplying uniforms in certain areas but I am OLD SCHOOL.

My summer ended with having learned so much and very ready to return to DUKE.  This would be my last summer away from DUKE until my graduation in 1957,