Everything … was spick and span …
Trevor Lynch shares his Maitland Hospital story.
right: Trevor Lynch in the volunteers room at The Maitland Hospital, May 2021. (Catharine Neilson)
My first memory of the Maitland Hospital was as a four-year-old (1949) visiting my mother who was in hospital. I remember little except that my brother and I were admonished for running up and down the corridors. Mum’s stay in hospital was brief so we didn’t have the need to return.
Left: My brother Austin and I (with a finger in my ear) in the main street in Maitland, about 1948.
Right: Our parents, George and Nora Lynch, about 1954.
A similar memory occurred some years later when my father was an inpatient in a private room at the north end of the hospital. It had an excellent aspect with a door leading out to a well-maintained garden that surrounded a large pond. I thought it was a great place to run around and explore.
The intermediate and private ward building with the sunken garden and pond - ‘I thought it was a great place to play in’.
(Maitland Hospital Collection 165.92)
My next memory occurred many years later, in 1965, when my parents took me to the Emergency Department following a fall from a horse onto a fence post. I was admitted with a ruptured kidney that was damaged beyond repair. Dr Elwin Currow, who was the Superintendent and Surgical Specialist at the time, operated and performed a nephrectomy of my left kidney. During the recovery stage I became aware that the nurses’ exams were imminent and some of them were having some difficulty solving the problems posed in their mathematics course. I was training to be a mathematics teacher at the time and was able to help them when the ward was quiet.
Other memories include the urgency to ensure everything in the ward was spick and span when matron was due to do her rounds, with particular attention paid to the way the beds had been made, as well as ensuring each nurse’s starched uniform was immaculate. I distinctly recall that Nurse Milligan was especially caring and Mr Moffat, the hospital wardsman, always had a kind word of encouragement for all patients. I recovered quickly and have been forever grateful to Dr Currow and the nursing staff for their skill and care to ensure I was able to live a normal life after such a serious injury.
Five years later, in 1970, I was back at the hospital again, this time as a husband bringing my pregnant wife to have our first child, a daughter. The labour ward at the time was on the top floor of the original hospital building that is currently used as the administration block. It is now a meeting room. Access was up the main staircase then via a tunnel staircase across to the enclosed verandah of the old building. That’s as far as husbands were allowed to go. Once the doorbell had been rung and the nurse in charge greeted the couple the husband was dismissed with the promise that he would be informed by phone when the baby had arrived.
The original hospital building is on the left, the 1905 building on the right. The ‘tunnel staircase’ can be seen at the back of the middle of the photograph.
(Maitland Hospital Collection 165.103)
Our daughter was born without incident and, shortly after, her mother was transferred to Addison ward in the adjacent building with the baby taken to a nursery nearby. Mother and baby were kept in hospital usually for at least seven days and visiting hours strictly controlled. At the designated time during visiting, the babies would be shown but only through the glass in the nursery door. The experience was similar for the birth of our next two children, both boys, but in 1980, when our youngest son was born, things had changed significantly. The new maternity ward had opened. Fathers could attend the birth and babies stayed near their mothers’ bedsides and visiting was much more relaxed.
Left: Loretto Lynch with Loretto and Trevor’s youngest child, 1980.
My next connection to Maitland Hospital came when our daughter, who is an emergency nurse, took up a position in the Emergency Department. She was promoted to Nurse Unit Manager and then as Nurse Manager Critical Care but the really interesting connection is back to her birth as her office is in the very building where she was born! It is the room into which her mother was taken just prior to her birth. What a coincidence!
Left: With my daughter, Kathleen Lynch, 2020.
The photograph was taken in the room in The Maitland Hospital where she was born.
In 2019 I was asked to join the Maitland Health Committee as a consumer representative and, shortly after, I was elected as the Chair of that Committee. It has been an exciting time to be involved with the construction of the new hospital at Metford always on the agenda. Being part of the planning for this new facility has been an honour and an experience I will cherish.
Trevor Lynch (centre) with members of the Maitland Health Committee, May 2021. (Catharine Neilson)
From left to right: Andrew Batcheldor, Quality Unit Manager, Lower Hunter Sector (LHS); Erika Butel-Simoes, Consumer Representative; Dr. Helen Belcher, Consumer Representative; Judy Jaeger, Maitland City Council; Trevor Lynch, Consumer Representative and Chair; Robert Worboys, Consumer Representative; Barbara Durrant, Consumer Representative; Kim Simpson, Volunteer & Community Participation Co-ordinator, LHS; Gordon Gorton, Consumer Representative.
Absent: Christine Osborne, Acting General Manager, LHS; Kim Aquilina, Consumer Representative; Tara Dever, CEO Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council; Nathan Buddle, Consumer Representative; Justice Love, TMH Staff Member; Di Holmes , TMH Senior Social Worker.
As a member of the Maitland Health Committee it became obvious to me that an accommodation facility was needed for patients and carers who needed to travel and stay overnight for treatment at the new Maitland Hospital. Other hospitals around the state had high quality accommodation within close walking distance to their hospitals. With the support of the Maitland based Rotary Clubs, a committee was formed to make this a reality. At the time of writing, a charity, Maitland HealthStays Limited, had been registered with negotiations taking place with health authorities to be allocated some land on the new Maitland Hospital Site to build the accommodation complex. The directors and members of Maitland HealthStays Limited are optimistic that this much needed support facility will become a reality.