Nursing And Medicine In The Forties, Fifties And Sixties Options

[MPringle]

Can you help?

I'm researching nursing and medicine in the forties, fifties and sixties in Glasgow for a book. Can anyone help? Either your experiences as a patient or as someone who worked in the health sector. General stories about what it was like to live in Glasgow then would be greatly appreciated. ps My mother was a Green lady. I saw a thread about this but can't find it now!

[MPringle]

I'm happy to respond to any information in a PM. Except I don't know what that is or how to organise it. I'm sure someone can tell me!

[alybainfan]

I'm happy to respond to any information in a PM. Except I don't know what that is or how to organise it. I'm sure someone can tell me!

To send a PM simply click on the users name and a drop down menu will appear, click ''send a message''.

As a I lived in the West end of Glasgow all through the 60's and during some of that time my mother was a mental health nurse at Gartnavel hospital.

She wore the starched uniform of the time. Knee length blue tunic dress, black stockings and black flat shoes, starched pinny, frilled sleeve cuffs, and stiff paper hats which she gave us children the job of putting into shape from a flat piece of cloth covered cardboard into a hat held together with many studs.

I doubt today with the threat of MRI if grubby little hands would be allowed to do the same in the home of a nurse.

[penny dainty]

I remember our Green Lady she was called Mrs. Ramsey and she came to see all the new borns at home and children up to 5 years , but she always had time for her grown up kids as well remembering all our names until she retired , then the system changed and there was no more green lady .Green Belted trench coat and the ugliest green hat i ever did see , but i never forgot her.

[Elma]

I had my second and third children at home in Giffnock in 1963 and 65. The District Nurse who delivered them was Nurse Robertson who visited me at home during the last three months of my pregnancies and brought "The Box" on one of these visits. It resided in the corner of the bedroom and I was threatened with death if I opened it. It contained all the things necessary for the birth!! She was terrific staying with me all through the night when my daughter took a long time to arrive and she, the nurse never took her hat off all night. She wore a blue uniform and a dark blue trench coat and hat. She actually made us change our minds about the name for our third child as she said he didn't look like an 'Eric' the name we had chosen - so we changed it to Douglas

[benny]

. . . . . She wore a blue uniform and a dark blue trench coat and hat. . . . .

[TeeHeeHee]

... She actually made us change our minds about the name for our third child as she said he didn't look like an 'Eric' the name we had chosen - so we changed it to Douglas

I'm not surprised.
The "Erics" was how we refered to our German collegues when they were in our presence and we were taking about them and not to them.

[MPringle]

To send a PM simply click on the users name and a drop down menu will appear, click ''send a message''.

As a I lived in the West end of Glasgow all through the 60's and during some of that time my mother was a mental health nurse at Gartnavel hospital.

She wore the starched uniform of the time. Knee length blue tunic dress, black stockings and black flat shoes, starched pinny, frilled sleeve cuffs, and stiff paper hats which she gave us children the job of putting into shape from a flat piece of cloth covered cardboard into a hat held together with many studs.

I doubt today with the threat of MRI if grubby little hands would be allowed to do the same in the home of a nurse.

Does your mother have any stories from her time at Gartnavel Royal? (I worked there too but in the early eighties- the uniform- when we wore it- was much plainer. Nurses don't wear hats anymore for starters!

M

[benny]

Don't know whit happened wi the previous post, but this is what I meant to post.

I was in Stobhill hospital about 1957 with Rhematic Fever - Ward 42B, if I remember aright. The ward was still based on the Victorian pattern of long rows of beds on either side, with a coal burning stove in the middle of the room. The floor consisted of simple, polished wooden floorboards - kept scrupulously clean, though. Every morning, apart from Sunday, all of the beds were pulled into the middle of the ward and the floors swept, mopped and polished with big lumps of pink stuff that looked not unlike blancmange. I even remember the wee cleaning wummin - Mrs. Scobie - in her blue and white pin striped uniform, with matching mob cap.
Every grade of staff seemed to have a different uniform. The matron had a light grey, long sleeved dress with white apron and a headress similar to that worn by nuns, also in white. The ward sister's uniform was very similar, only the colour of the dress was royal blue. At that time there were two grades of nurses - one was more highly qualified than the other - and this was reflected in the uniform. I think - again if I remember aright - the higher grade had a denim blue/grey dress, short sleeved, with a white hat - not the nun type headgear - and white apron, while the lower grade had a green dress of the same material. To complicate matters further, some nurses had stripes on the sleeve of their dresses - similar to the army - and I think these were student nurses and the stripes denoted the year they were in. One stripe for year one, two stripes for second year, and so on. Doctors usually just wore white lab coats.

I remember getting aspirin crushed and mixed with orange juice about four times a day - this was before all of the modern NSAIDs came on the market - and daily injections of penicillin as a treatment. I also remember it was the first time - but not the last - I heard of the word "diet". After the first few days in hospital, I was put on a diet, because Rheumatic Fever could affect the heart valves, and I suppose they thought if I was lighter it would be less strain on the auld ticker. (I was a chubby kid, but not, at that time grossly overweight.) Anyway, the grub they served up on the diet was diabolical. Nae salt, and everythin swimmin in water. Much as I liked my food, I often refused to eat the tasteless mush and they had to end up giving me a plate of custard instead. Kinda defeated the purpose.

I was in Stobhill for just over 7 weeks - all but the last week or so spent lying in bed. When I finally got out of bed it was into a wheelchair for a couple of hours a day, then, by stages, back onto my feet. I had to learn to walk again with the aid of a heavy trolley they used to serve the meals from - nae zimmers in thae days.

I went from Stobhill to Lenzie convalescent home for a further 5 weeks before I was allowed home.

[angel]

I had my second and third children at home in Giffnock in 1963 and 65. The District Nurse who delivered them was Nurse Robertson who visited me at home during the last three months of my pregnancies and brought "The Box" on one of these visits. It resided in the corner of the bedroom and I was threatened with death if I opened it. It contained all the things necessary for the birth!! She was terrific staying with me all through the night when my daughter took a long time to arrive and she, the nurse never took her hat off all night. She wore a blue uniform and a dark blue trench coat and hat. She actually made us change our minds about the name for our third child as she said he didn't look like an 'Eric' the name we had chosen - so we changed it to Douglas

much the same as yourself , but I,m glad you changed his name LOL, ha ha

I once knew an Eric but my rotten friends called him " Erica"... LOL

[alybainfan]

Does your mother have any stories from her time at Gartnavel Royal? (I worked there too but in the early eighties- the uniform- when we wore it- was much plainer. Nurses don't wear hats anymore for starters!

M

Sadly my mother is no longer with us. She died in '73 at only age 39, so I can't answer your questions sadly, but I see by your post it's now called Gartnavel ''Royal''.

[GG]

Can you help?

I'm researching nursing and medicine in the forties, fifties and sixties in Glasgow for a book. Can anyone help? Either your experiences as a patient or as someone who worked in the health sector. General stories about what it was like to live in Glasgow then would be greatly appreciated. ps My mother was a Green lady. I saw a thread about this but can't find it now!

Hi MP, the following topic might be the one you were looking for:

The Green Lady; Made sure the house was clean
http://discuss.glasgowguide.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=12034

GG.

[Dunvegan]

Can you help?

I'm researching nursing and medicine in the forties, fifties and sixties in Glasgow for a book. Can anyone help? Either your experiences as a patient or as someone who worked in the health sector. General stories about what it was like to live in Glasgow then would be greatly appreciated. ps My mother was a Green lady. I saw a thread about this but can't find it now!

My earliest memories were of the "green Lady" They were wonderfull people, dedicated and caring. They were responsible for keeping working class kids from suffering a whole range of diseases caused by poor sanitation and nutrition. The welfare state was one of the great things to come out of post war Labour Scotland. My first spoken words were to the "Green Lady" on a visit to the home I was staying in 1947; I pointed to a plaque of a sailing ship and said "ship on the wall" I can still recall it vividly to this day.

[angel]

this subject has been done already on the boards and Martin has posted the above link.

[benny]

. . . . My first spoken words were to the "Green Lady" on a visit to the home I was staying in 1947; I pointed to a plaque of a sailing ship and said "ship on the wall" I can still recall it vividly to this day.

That's some jump, Dunvegan - frae utter silence tae "ship on the wall". Whit happened tae aw the goo-goos an da-das most kids start wi?