1948.27.1 Martha Stockberger 1948

              Voices of the Past
Graham Hospital School of Nursing Oral History
Martha Stockberger
Class of 1948
Why did you choose to attend Graham School of Nursing?
My parents were from Peoria, and all of my grandparents, cousins, etc, lived there. Dad
taught school in Detroit, but the family ties were in Illinois. Since there was a war, the
nursing programs were full, mainly because of the cadet nurses program in Detroit. So
a smaller school was the choice.
Why did you choose a career in nursing?
I think the seed was planted by my mother and I always wanted to please her and I
volunteered at a small facility after school and enjoyed it.
Did your family support your decision to be a nurse?
Absolutely.
What other professions were an option to you at the time?
Teaching, social work, secretary, women in that era usually worked only til they married.
How did you pay for school?
My parents took care of all the expenses.
Was it a 3- year RN program at that time?
Yes.
What was the criteria for admission to the school?
Graduation from high school with all of the grades and letters from some of my
teachers. I also had to write why I wanted to have a nursing education, plus a
graduation picture.
Who taught your nursing classes?
Edythe Allen
Ed Lewis – Pharmacist
Dr. Reinhertsen – OB/ GYN
Did you study anything other than nursing?
No
Who or what did you practice on for patients? Real patients? Students?
Mannequins?
All of the above.
What kind of nursing care did you provide?
We had assignments for baths, AM care. We took BPs, gave enemas, hypos and pre-op
meds. Ambulated with the patient, fed those unable to, gave backrubs. Took TPR,
changed dressings.
Where were your classes held?
In the house across from the hospital. It was a 2- story building, and the upstairs had a
kitchen where we were taught some cooking and did dietary planning.
What kind of patient load did you have?
Usually 4 or 5 patients. The patient stay was longer than a week. Hernia repair usually
10 days. Anyone who was in need of more than regular care had special or private duty
nurse since no ICU department.
Did you have a trial or probationary period?
Yes, 5 months.
Was there a library for the nursing students?
Yes, small by today’s standards.
What types of assignments or classes did you have?
Anatomy & Physiology, Pharmacology, Newborn Care, OB/ GYN classes, Nutrition and
yes, we did homework – especially anatomy.
How many hours did you spend in the classroom?
Usually 8 hours, but not every day. When we were ready for hospital duty, we had
some class time off.
What was the average age of the nursing students?
It varied. Some were quite busy trying to get tuition money, so worked at the phone
company, overall factor, or at International Harvester, so some were on their mid 20’ s.
Did anyone fail or were asked to leave? Why?
None, that I can remember, correction! I can’t remember anyone except a woman who
just remained a graduate nurse, didn’t pass State Board. ( I can tell you the name but it
isn’t that important.)
Were there any other nursing schools in the area?
Peoria had Methodist, St. Francis, and Proctor. All of them were excellent. There was
Cottage Hospital in Galesburg. We went to St. Francis for communicable diseases and
pediatrics for 4 months.
What was the hardest for you?
Being “ on call” for surgery. There were no ERs so one got called out and had to clean
up, no disposables. That meant washing, drying and powdering of the gloves, mending
them and sterilizing them.
How did you become licensed? State Boards? If so, where and how were they
administered?
I took state boards in Chicago, and it was in a large room designated for that purpose.
All was hand written, and officials walked the aisles during the whole session. I think I
spent 2 days there.
What was a normal day’s schedule like?
We worked a lot of split shifts ( 12 Friday) until the 8- hour day was implemented. We did
morning care, helped pass food trays, helped feed patients, PM care, which was back
rub and make time for visitors.
Where did you live? If you lived “ on campus” were there any rules? Dorms?
Who was in charge?
I lived in the nurses home on West Maple. Yes, there were rules. A sign- out in book
was at the main floor, and the house mother monitored all. We were to be in at night by
10 pm but on weekends it was 11 pm. We could get a 12: 00 am pass one time a week
on weekends.
Were you fed? What? What was included in room and board?
Yes, we were fed. They did cooking from scratch, no precooked or frozen foods. They
even had a pastry cook, so you know me, always befriended these ladies. ☺ It was all
included in the tuition. We had rooms that housed 2 girls. There was a dresser, desk,
and 2 chairs. There were small closets on either side of the room. We were given
sheets, towels, wash cloths, soap, and some blankets, although, I had my own blankets
and pillows.
There were bathrooms with shower stalls, toilets, sinks, and they were all tiled, and kept
very clean. No air- conditioning.
What kind of transportation did you use to get to school or home?
I lived in the nurses home, so only had to walk to work or class. My house was in
Detroit, Michigan, so I usually was flown home.
Was your education continuous? Were there interruptions? Breaks? Vacations?
My education was continuous. No breaks. Vacation, 2 weeks per year.
How many students were in your class?
2 of us to begin with. It was a January start, but then we were joined by 5 others.
Could student nurses be married?
No.
What did your uniform look like?
White, short sleeves, and we had navy blue capes with a red lining. We wore white
stockings and white shoes. White caps, everything super starched. We also had
chapel every morning, sang a hymn, prayed, and were inspected for clean uniforms,
shoes, nails, etc; short hair.
What did you do for entertainment or recreation?
My roommate and I would go the show. We also were regular church goers. In 1945,
there really weren’t too many activities for anyone.
Did you actually work for the hospital or school?
No, not while a student.
Were you paid for the work you did at Graham while in school? If so, how much?
No
After you graduated, what kinds of nursing jobs did you have?
I worked for the hospital, also did private duty, I worked for the Air Force in Alaska for 2
years. After Alaska, I worked for 5 OB/ GYN professors in North Carolina. In northern
Illinois I worked as head nurse in a community hospital.
How many years did you work?
42 years
When did you retire? Why? What did you do after retirement?
I retired 9in 1986 because my husband did but he was called back as consultant, so I
went back and worked same day surgery for 3 ½ years.
If you had it to do over, would you be a nurse?
Yes.
What type of opportunities in nursing were there during your career?
More degrees, but I didn’t pursue that.
Did you take a test for licensure?
No.
Were there any male nurses?
No.
Were there any medical specialties? Nursing specialties?
Not until later years. They did have some short term specialties, post graduate courses.
How has nursing changed since you went to school?
Absolutely.
How many patients did the hospital usually have?
100 at full capacity.
What supplies were available on the floor during the time you were in school?
Syringes, gloves, etc.
Glass syringes, needles that had to be sharpened and sterilized. Glass flasks, 1000cc
and rubber tubings, rubber gloves, nothing disposable.
What were the important diseases while you were in school? What precautions
did you take to protect yourself? Did you need or get immunization?
While in Peoria at St. Francis, polio was about the only important concern. ( Isolation
procedures). Then back in Canton, there were girls sent over from Peoria with syphilis,
gonorrhea. We gave large doses of Penicillin every 2 hours and did isolation
procedures for this. Didn’t get any immunizations. They were not offered.
What do you see as the greatest medical advancement since you began your
nursing career?
The shortened length of stay, the laser procedures, the same- day procedures. Also, the
scans, MRIs, cataract surgery.
Did patients have insurance? How did they pay for their care?
No. A hospital hill- room rate $ 14.00 for the plushest room. No phone, no TV, no air
conditioner; just a nice room with wallpaper and drapes.
What types of medications were used?
Sulfa, Penicillin, there weren’t too many choices in the 40’ s.
Do you have any stories or reminiscences you would like to share?
There was no ER. No EMTs. If someone needed to be transported, the funeral home
was called. There were 3 that I could remember; Sedgwick’s, Sebrees, and another
one.
When they brought in a patient, the patient would inquire about the charges, and they
were told no charge, but the thought was, when you need us for other services, other
than transportation, remember us.
We had certain meds on the floor, but if a patient needed anything from the drug store,
it was called in, and delivered by a “ runner”. The “ runner” would see that patient with
the med and imply that payment would be appreciated. If the patient didn’t have any
extra money, they would be billed. As you know, people really didn’t bring valuables
with them.
Oxygen was delivered by tank, no wall plugs, just the tall, green tank that was covered
with a white cover.
There was no air conditioning, and no phones in the room.
Visiting hours 2- 4 and 7- 8 pm and these hours were honored.
There was a tunnel from the nurse’s home to the hospital. This was especially nice in
cold or rainy weather.
If you had a “ late pass”, you were escorted from hospital to nurse’s home by the night
supervisor.
It was also very good to transport clean linen from the laundry in nurse’s home
basement to the hospital. Yes, they did all the laundry. They also provided uniform
service, no charge, when in school or hospital employee.
The basement also served as a kitchen during some renovation, but not while laundry
department was there.
The Coleman Clinic consisted of: Dr. Coleman, Dr. Reinhertsen, Dr. Scherer, and Dr.
Bennett. There was also Dr. Putman, orthopedics – sent to Peoria.
I hope this helps you get a feel for what it was like all these years ago.
My school pin says “ Graham Hospital Training School for Nurses”
Some of our patients were from International Harvester. There were some shop
accidents, and although they had an RN on duty there, some were brought in and
admitted because of the severity of the injury.
Monday was usually wash day so we would get the ladies in who had caught their
hands in the wringer in the washer.
Other accidents were sustained in the farm fields, machinery injuring extremities.
Another thing we encountered was on the first spring like day, we usually got an elderly
gentleman who had hibernated in his long underwear and was refusing to let us remove
it. We couldn’t believe this, but it was a way of life.
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