Cape Breton's Magazine

fore you left Ward A, you had to have everything immaculate. You did all the housekeeping--the nurses did all the house? keeping. So you would get to work with the mops and scrubbrushes and clean those wards. And then you would wax and polish them--by hand. You know, the old (floor polisher) with the big lead (weights) that you used to (swing over paste wax.) That had to be done, every month. And you went with a sense of pride, that my floors were just as shiny as anybody else's! Laughs. (You're waxing floors and you're washing your ward, you're getting it prepared so you could move to the next ward. What were you doing for the patients?) Well, you started at seven o'clock. Do you want me to tell you what I did the first day? (Yes.) I went in on Sunday morning. SEAFLOWER GALLERY ART & CARVINGS by Local Artists * ANTIQUES ' COLLECTABLES ARTISTS'MATERIALS NOWLNSTOCia LUCAS Oils, Water Colours & Acrylics Pastels * Charcoal GESSO • Linseed Oil • Turpentine KAMAR Varnish Spray Knives * Sketch Pads • Canvas Phone us at 295-1991 or 295-2386 or drop in! CHEBUCTO ST • BADDECK ACROSS FROM TELEGRAPH HOUSE And my friend, who was in the year before-- who happens to be Mrs. Flora MacDonald in Sydney--she took me by hand into her ward, and she taught me how to make a hospital bed. And then I had to help her serve the breakfast, to feed whoever needs to be fed. And then-- this was the female ward-- there were hot 295-2234 'Mihng-i FAMILY RESTAURANT Welcomes you to • DOWNTOWN BADDECK • Lunch Specials Daily • FULLY LICENSED • Take Out Available • OPEN 7 AIM to 11 PIV!< Tour Buses Welcome (reserve in advance) Affordable Prices Serving Chinese and Canadian Dishes pads to be put on wounds, or something like that. So, she took me out to the utility room and showed me how to make borassic hot pads, and wring them out, and take them in and put them on this wound the proper way. And also how to talk--you got very good training. Because all the time that she was making the bed, she was talking to Mrs. So- and-so. And this is what you do. You talk, and ask her how she slept, and what she had for breakfast, or if she had any pain here. What kind of a pain it was. All these things were going on then. So it wasn't a static thing. It was a learning.... If you wanted to learn, it was there. And you got to know these people so very well. And they got to know you, of course. And then after that, I helped her pour medicines. And of course, there were no antibiotics, and there were none of these dangers. There was cough medicine, stomach medicine, kidney medicine, and whatnot, you know. Great big jugs of it, and you had to learn how to pour a dram or so. But nevertheless, it had to be done a certain way. Everything on a tray. Never carry anything that is not on a tray. And then, after that--this was the big thing. "Now," Flora, my friend, said, "now I'm going to teach you how to do the douche." So, I went out--I didn't even know what a douche was Where would I ever see it, or even hear or read about it? So anyway--we had to give it. So, I was very interested. Flora gave it, and she was show- ing me all the tech? niques of it. Of course, then you had to d charting And you had to chart th medicine dahnsan EM aUTBOARDS BADDECK SIUIALL ENGINE CENTRE Exit 8, Trans-Canada Hwy. (902) 295-3000 STORE HOURS: 9 - 5 Monday - Friday 9 -1 Saturday ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK July 1 to Aug- 31 • 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sept. 1 to 30 • 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Oct. 1 - June 30 • 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. FEE SCHEDULE: • Adult $2.25 -Seniors (65+) $1.75 • Youth (6-16) $1.25 BADDECK, N.S. 75 km. west of Sydney on Route 105 Ciiildren Can Build & Fly a Bell Kite Special Evening Presentations Inquire 295-2069 for Times • Children 5 and under free BELL THE MAN • BELL THE EXPERIMENTER • HYDROFOIL HALL Beautiful, Intelligent and Peaceful CanacM Baddeck: on Highway 105 and the Cabot Trail