Long hard hours.
Left: Leanne Debenham with her Dad, Frank Morris, late 1990s.
Leanne Debenham has fond memories of the stories about working at the Maitland Hospital that her grandmother, Muriel Morris, shared with her family.
Leanne honours her Nana with the following words and images.
Irene Muriel Morris (nee Walters), 1899-1976.
Muriel, as she preferred to be called, trained as a nurse at Maitland Hospital from May 1927 to May 1931, and graduated as a registered nurse in September 1932.
Entry for Muriel Walters in The Maitland Hospital Nurses’ Register.
(Maitland Hospital Collection 322)
She married Franz Morris (son of Lewis Morris, the founder of Lewis Morris Cordials, Maitland) in 1931. They met when Franz was recovering from pneumonia in the men’s ward of the hospital.
As was the practice at the time, marriage meant that Muriel left nursing. She spent the next decade working at home as mother and housekeeper.
Muriel and Franz had four children – Barbara (1932-1932), Maureen(1934-2010), Francis (1935- ), and Lewis(1940 - ).
Sadly, Franz died unexpectedly from a ruptured appendix in January 1941. Muriel returned to nursing at the hospital.
She worked in the men’s ward and then, eventually, became the Charge Sister of the children’s ward for many years. She retired in 1960.
We recall her stories about the long hard hours spent as a junior nurse, scrubbing and sanitising equipment in the pan room. The daily ward inspections by Matron, checking that beds had perfect hospital corners, ensuring patients’ lockers and bed tables were aligned in the long wards, and the trouble that ensued should they be out of place.
The Sisters served up the patients’ meals and the nurses delivered them. Today these extra duties are attended to by housekeeping staff.
The patient care was very ‘hands on’ during her career. Patients were confined to bed for long periods. This resulted in the need for frequent pressure area care, sponge bathing and all personal care to be delivered by the nurses.
Wounds were dressed multiple times per shift, for every patient.
Nothing was disposable. All swabs, tubing, needles and syringes were cleaned and re-sterilized for use again.
Reusable syringes from the Maitland Hospital Collection.
(Maitland Hospital Collection 170)
Many women remember Nana gratefully for assisting them during childbirth.
Muriel had very fond memories of her career and colleagues at The Maitland Hospital.