WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:06.537 what year was that when you started? Um I guess it was 41. I graduated 00:00:06.570 --> 00:00:09.306 from there in 1944. 00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:14.677 That was the time that world war. Yes, it certainly was. So unfortunately 00:00:14.710 --> 00:00:21.556 I didn't get to go home very often because the busses and the and the 00:00:21.589 --> 00:00:29.589 trains were all loaded with army personnel actually. And not only did we 00:00:29.750 --> 00:00:33.917 not have released time that much except in the summer we had a couple of 00:00:33.950 --> 00:00:38.686 weeks but it would take too long for me to get there. Even if I had been 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:44.967 able to get transportation except that christmas time and one week during 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.607 the summer. 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:52.807 So you pretty much stayed there in ST louis. Did you know people there? No 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:59.406 , but I had some relatives who lived across the river in 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:04.536 and was in contact with them part of the time. They were very gracious 00:01:04.569 --> 00:01:10.266 hosts for me when I had a day or so off. Uh huh. Is there any other ways 00:01:10.299 --> 00:01:16.697 that the war impacted your life? Well yes, we were all afraid because ST 00:01:16.730 --> 00:01:23.076 louis I think at that time was in fact I know at that time was lights out 00:01:23.109 --> 00:01:27.956 at a certain time except in the hospital which was right across from the 00:01:27.989 --> 00:01:35.989 nursing home. The nurses residents I should say. And we had to cover our 00:01:36.049 --> 00:01:39.406 windows very carefully at night 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:46.096 because of the fear of bombing. I guess we never had very much information 00:01:46.129 --> 00:01:52.257 about it. But we all certainly covered our windows of our rooms. I have a 00:01:52.290 --> 00:01:59.227 frightening way to live. Yes, but it's amazing want girls to accept it and 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:03.557 not think much about it. I wouldn't have thought of that of ST louis 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:07.257 because it's in the middle of the country of California. Heard about 00:02:07.290 --> 00:02:10.517 California being concerned, 00:02:10.550 --> 00:02:18.346 louis was just as worried. Yes, it was as a city. 00:02:18.379 --> 00:02:24.517 And did you ever consider joining the military? Yes, I did. And I had 00:02:24.550 --> 00:02:30.547 graduated from the school at that time and was a head nurse on the men's 00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:36.237 ward. And I think that probably was unusual for an immediate graduate to 00:02:36.270 --> 00:02:42.367 have a job of that responsibility. But I did and it was it was very 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:50.400 helpful to me. It was interesting. Um but at about the time when there 00:02:50.979 --> 00:02:57.577 were several of us who had an apartment together for us actually and we 00:02:57.610 --> 00:03:02.906 all decided at the same time to join the army or one person who wanted to 00:03:02.939 --> 00:03:10.939 be in the navy and I was an army recruit. And about that time I developed 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:21.139 a heavy, really, a massive sickness I guess I had was a high temperature. 00:03:22.340 --> 00:03:25.006 And 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:30.267 uh gee I guess they didn't ever diagnose it. But I was in the hospital for 00:03:30.300 --> 00:03:35.136 a couple of weeks at the time when I was being called into duty and I 00:03:35.169 --> 00:03:41.087 couldn't go. So they revoked my orders. So I was and I wasn't and he 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:48.186 placed near the recruitment office after that. And what year was that? It 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:53.707 must have been 45. The war ended shortly. Yes. 00:03:53.740 --> 00:03:58.096 You mentioned you were the head nurse on the men's ward. We don't hear 00:03:58.129 --> 00:04:03.277 about men's. No, but that it was structured that way in this hospital. The 00:04:03.310 --> 00:04:09.397 women's ward was at one end of the hall with beds lined up throughout the 00:04:09.430 --> 00:04:17.430 rather large room. And the men's performance at the other end of the hall. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:24.257 And we had a lot of recruits from South America people who had left 00:04:24.290 --> 00:04:32.290 Germany and came up to relatives in ST louis through uh south America. So 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:39.887 we had we had our taste of from people who came through And came to the 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:47.920 hospital for one element or another. These were jewish people. Yes. Yes. 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:54.507 Did you see any veterans coming back? No, not many. They weren't yet 00:04:54.540 --> 00:05:00.806 released and probably the military when I was there. Yes. 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:03.007 Mhm. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:08.246 So after your illness, what did you do? You got better obviously. Yeah. 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:14.356 Yeah. Yeah. Quickly to know. Not quickly. I went back to to where my 00:05:14.389 --> 00:05:19.156 parents were and in Oklahoma and stayed there for a while and worked at 00:05:19.189 --> 00:05:25.147 one of the local hospitals. And then I had by that time I had two sisters 00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:29.856 who were living in Arizona and and one of them came through and said why 00:05:29.889 --> 00:05:34.507 don't you come to Arizona with us? Because she was twisting her vacation 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:40.027 and I decided to do that and that was my first trip into Arizona. What 00:05:40.060 --> 00:05:45.387 year was that? I guess there's still 45. So he came out basically as a 00:05:45.420 --> 00:05:51.137 tourist or I'm here to live. Well she lived in Tucson at that time and I 00:05:51.170 --> 00:05:56.577 came and decided to stay a while and, and worked at the county hospital in 00:05:56.610 --> 00:06:01.416 Tucson for a while. What was that like in the back then? What was to 00:06:01.449 --> 00:06:07.827 sunlight? It was a small town, it really was. I could get to my sister's 00:06:07.860 --> 00:06:12.856 house by stepping outside and taking the bus to the part of town where she 00:06:12.889 --> 00:06:18.046 lived and it went through the center of town. So I was able to get out and 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:22.496 shop and do other things that I'd like to do. What was your first 00:06:22.529 --> 00:06:25.496 impression when you came to Tucson? It must have been quite different from 00:06:25.529 --> 00:06:31.757 Oklahoma. Well it was different from Oklahoma. Uh but it was, it was nice 00:06:31.790 --> 00:06:36.996 , I liked it, I liked the heat strangely 00:06:37.029 --> 00:06:44.236 and uh the people were nice and I made some nice friends and it was nice 00:06:44.269 --> 00:06:48.926 having my sister there because I could go on days off and spend my time 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:56.916 with them. It was an uneventful small town I think. So did you come, 00:06:56.949 --> 00:07:02.587 they're planning to stay or? Well, I came primarily to just look around 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:07.517 because I was interested but and I did not say I went back to Missouri for 00:07:07.550 --> 00:07:09.606 a while 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:17.106 and back to ST louis as I recall. Why did you do that? 00:07:17.139 --> 00:07:23.926 I think I think I didn't find Tucson that interesting to stay, but I like 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:29.296 the weather. And so I went back to and worked in ST louis for a while 00:07:29.329 --> 00:07:36.027 again. Where did you work this time at the same place, 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:43.976 jewish hospital then? What brought you to the phoenix area? Well I am I 00:07:44.009 --> 00:07:50.236 did take some classes at ST louis university and 00:07:50.269 --> 00:07:56.226 came to say came to phoenix, the phoenix area did you say? And well I had 00:07:56.259 --> 00:08:01.877 another sister who lived here then. In fact she had the only drug store in 00:08:01.910 --> 00:08:08.106 Tempe which was called the Tempe drug at that time. And I visited with her 00:08:08.139 --> 00:08:15.906 and began working at the indian service hospital which was over in phoenix. 00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:23.939 And then after that I worked at a hospital in south phoenix which was I 00:08:25.490 --> 00:08:30.246 can't remember the name of the hospital at the time but it was run by an 00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:38.167 ex Jesuit priest and for the population in that area which was a lower 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:45.587 class population who needed care and help. And I found santa Monica. 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:50.457 That's right and it was very interesting to me what was it called Santa 00:08:50.490 --> 00:08:53.807 Monica's hospital. Thanks. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:58.136 Somebody else knows about it. 00:08:58.169 --> 00:09:00.587 Yeah. 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:04.567 Well I lived down there too and I was working down there. Yeah. Tell her 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:10.307 what that was like that neighborhood right there. Well it is interesting 00:09:10.340 --> 00:09:18.340 and it was uh partly uh mexican I think as I recall and some other 00:09:19.590 --> 00:09:27.590 families and some negroes but mostly there was mexican population and when 00:09:28.509 --> 00:09:34.006 people couldn't go to other hospitals. I think they came there and there 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:40.896 was it was a busy hospital and 00:09:40.929 --> 00:09:44.677 that's about all I can remember about it. Did you need to learn spanish 00:09:44.710 --> 00:09:49.307 you know I didn't although I picked up some 00:09:49.340 --> 00:09:56.846 and later in in figs I worked for the visiting nurse service. And uh when 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:03.756 they had one here and that was for many years it was very much used and 00:10:03.789 --> 00:10:09.467 that was an interesting experience also. And I also took courses while I 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:16.506 was uh involved in working to. That sounds like as a nurse. You never had 00:10:16.539 --> 00:10:20.437 problems getting a job when you decided. No that's right. There are always 00:10:20.470 --> 00:10:28.470 jobs. Uh huh. At least the jobs that I was interested in. But why did you 00:10:29.289 --> 00:10:33.986 decide to work for the visiting nurse service? Um Because I thought it 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:39.807 would be interesting and it was helpful to people who needed 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:46.587 who needed help from our care from nurses who usually the doctors referred 00:10:46.620 --> 00:10:52.037 someone. But there were there was also another population if people would 00:10:52.070 --> 00:10:57.126 refer to as some uh family to visiting your service. We always went out 00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:02.667 and and did an assessment of the situation and made recommendations and 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:05.307 help for them. 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:09.807 Yeah, describe for me a little bit how the visiting nurse service worked 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:16.447 well uh calls uh when people were discharged from the hospital or if they 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:22.177 weren't sick enough to go to the hospital are many of them had diabetes 00:11:22.210 --> 00:11:28.376 and needed instruction on how to help themselves and take care of their as 00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:33.587 the disease at the same time. And so the doctor should call the visiting 00:11:33.620 --> 00:11:41.256 your service and the director of a sign nurses to that family. And also we 00:11:41.289 --> 00:11:45.807 had students from, from good samaritan hospital which is now Banner 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:53.346 hospital in phoenix. And I happen to be an instructor for the students at 00:11:53.379 --> 00:12:00.376 that time. So I accompanied them also into visits and show them the 00:12:00.409 --> 00:12:06.026 routine for the activities of the visiting nurse. Well who operated the 00:12:06.059 --> 00:12:11.537 visiting nurse service. How was it? It was funded through uh several 00:12:11.570 --> 00:12:17.407 sources, but it was partly through what was in the community 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:24.337 service agency. And uh also fees were collected when it could, people 00:12:24.370 --> 00:12:31.457 could pay if not they were uh the money was obtained from the victim unity 00:12:31.490 --> 00:12:39.006 source. So it was sort of a nonprofit operation, definitely, definitely. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:43.197 When did they start having their ebook sales? It was during the time I 00:12:43.230 --> 00:12:51.230 was there and the director when I was there was mrs done, she and her 00:12:52.809 --> 00:12:57.766 husband had been a in fact she and her husband both had worked in parker 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:05.799 when the japanese people were all sent to Parker Arizona And she had some 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:12.646 interesting ideas and the very community wide approach towards visiting 00:13:12.679 --> 00:13:18.506 nurses association and what we did. It was very interesting. 00:13:18.539 --> 00:13:23.096 So was it her idea to have a book sale? I think it was, Do you remember 00:13:23.129 --> 00:13:27.217 the first sale. How did that work out? I don't remember it, but I I know 00:13:27.250 --> 00:13:32.407 it was very successful for many years and still is. And so I remember that 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:39.157 later, I was wondering how it got started. She, well, the women's group in 00:13:39.190 --> 00:13:47.136 phoenix also supported the agency and we're very active in taking students 00:13:47.169 --> 00:13:55.067 to their a sign patients to care for. They drove the students. Which is a 00:13:55.100 --> 00:14:00.707 nice thing too, because the students didn't have cars in those days. What 00:14:00.740 --> 00:14:07.386 women's group was that the phoenix women's society. 00:14:07.419 --> 00:14:12.937 And so did they start the book sale? They with in cooperation with the 00:14:12.970 --> 00:14:15.907 Senior service? 00:14:15.940 --> 00:14:21.807 It's a huge event now. It really is huge. But it wasn't to begin with. It 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:26.557 was, I think they were able to use some of the county facilities to hold 00:14:26.590 --> 00:14:31.707 the book sale though. And it was successful. 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:35.697 Do you know how much money they raised with them too many years ship. God 00:14:35.730 --> 00:14:41.256 , I had forgotten. Mhm. You know, they raised a lot of money, but the 00:14:41.289 --> 00:14:46.866 books are bargained still. They still are. It's a nice community activity 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:49.907 too. 00:14:49.940 --> 00:14:54.057 So you sound like you were doing a lot of things. You were, you said you 00:14:54.090 --> 00:14:58.567 were teaching at the Good samaritan? No, I didn't teach at good samaritan 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:06.207 . I um had, we had their students there for uh working for practice. No, I 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:11.327 was working at the for the visiting nurses, but I supervise students in 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:19.360 their visits to patients in their homes and showed them the role of what 00:15:19.379 --> 00:15:22.207 the 15 years does 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:25.577 you mentioned, you were also taking some classes. Yes. Where were you 00:15:25.610 --> 00:15:32.126 taking classes? I took classes at phoenix uh Community college and I don't 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:38.187 know what it was called then phoenix something. But and also I took a 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:44.486 class or two in the summertime at A. S. U. And as you had a college of 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:50.016 nursing that no they did not. Unfortunately they had, well I was trying to 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:54.726 fill in some of my other classes which I needed in order to. I was working 00:15:54.759 --> 00:16:01.876 towards my bachelor's degree in nursing. And so eventually uh from the 00:16:01.909 --> 00:16:06.677 visiting nurse service and and the indian service experience here I went 00:16:06.710 --> 00:16:10.736 back again to ST louis and got my bachelor's degree at Saint Louis 00:16:10.769 --> 00:16:12.807 University. 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:18.047 So you hadn't actually gotten that degree when you were there. Yeah. So 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:23.376 when did you get that degree? I think it was 54. So did you become a 00:16:23.409 --> 00:16:29.037 registered nurse before that? Yes, one becomes a registered nurse in those 00:16:29.070 --> 00:16:37.070 days by simply finishing their diploma degree in nursing. And usually it 00:16:37.090 --> 00:16:40.307 was associated with the hospital. 00:16:40.340 --> 00:16:43.197 So you had you were a registered nurse but you didn't have the bachelor's 00:16:43.230 --> 00:16:49.636 degree. So what was the benefit of getting the bachelors well benefit for 00:16:49.669 --> 00:16:55.506 me was I was interested in learning more things 00:16:55.539 --> 00:17:03.539 in general and also in nursing but there was no nursing school per se 00:17:03.750 --> 00:17:09.347 except through the hospitals uh in phoenix at that time. There was no 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:17.380 degree program, There was a two diploma programs As I recall one at uh huh 00:17:19.339 --> 00:17:27.339 Barnes or saint joseph and saint Josephs, Not Burns, one at 00:17:27.539 --> 00:17:31.867 what is now banner, but it was good samaritan and And one at ST. Joseph 00:17:31.900 --> 00:17:37.806 Hearts Hospital. So explain again, what is the diploma program? Well, it 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:45.839 usually is a 3-year program in nursing. And uh after which you get, when 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:51.127 you complete all the requirements, you get your diploma. He says this is a 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:54.857 registered nurse would be also to be a registered nurse must take a state 00:17:54.890 --> 00:18:01.016 exam. And if she passed that in addition to having here their diploma from 00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:05.657 the hospital, you can you are a registered nurse the first you need the 00:18:05.690 --> 00:18:10.756 diploma. Yes. So what do they is you offer at that time? Some science 00:18:10.789 --> 00:18:12.907 courses 00:18:12.940 --> 00:18:20.940 and of course the other courses which were pertinent to becoming a 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:26.107 bachelor's degree recipient. 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:28.207 So 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:32.697 I was trying to fulfill some of those requirements before I went back to 00:18:32.730 --> 00:18:38.167 ST Louis university and there was a nursing program there of course at 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:42.246 that time it was still Arizona State Teachers College, wasn't it? No, it 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:49.397 was Arizona State University I think in the university. 58 appreciate. 00:18:49.430 --> 00:18:54.887 Well I missed a few years I guess. Yeah. Yeah it was it was not, it was 00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:59.907 there, so state college. 00:18:59.940 --> 00:19:03.127 So did you have some goals of what you wanted to do and you've got your 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:09.717 bachelor's degree then. No, I wanted to continue to do nursing, which I 00:19:09.750 --> 00:19:12.006 did. 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:20.039 And then uh because the visiting nurse had rather brad broad scope 00:19:23.450 --> 00:19:31.450 in caring for people, I was interested in public health. And uh so I went 00:19:31.619 --> 00:19:39.107 back to Minnesota after some experience here again and I did my Masters 00:19:39.140 --> 00:19:46.147 degree in a master of public health with a minor also in the psychiatric 00:19:46.180 --> 00:19:48.407 nursing. 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:51.326 So when you did that, were you still working as a nurse? Why you went to 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:56.867 school or did you just go to school? I had I had some scholarships and I 00:19:56.900 --> 00:20:04.006 did work a little bit. Not much. I mean I worked a lot but that was for a 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:07.806 force by schooling 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:15.839 but not for for my uh living. I was very well taken care of with it with 00:20:16.569 --> 00:20:22.266 the uh huh scholarship which I had received, who gave you the scholarship 00:20:22.299 --> 00:20:28.640 . I think it was the American nurses Association at that point.