Quilting conversations: a reflective account of women growing up on the West Coast and nursing in the 1930's and 1940's

Abstract

This thesis is an oral "herstory" of two West Coast Women in conversation with a contemporary, and all are nurses. The conversations are presented as whole patterns which are quilted together to form a story within a story. I have woven in my story, with the commonality of being a nurse and having lived the past five years on the West Coast. Until the 1960's, women on the West Coast had had very little written about their lives and nursing records on the "Coast" were very limited, even in the 1990's. The women in this study conveyed their childhood memories and nursing days, as they reflected on a training that was strictly disciplined, hierarchical in a hospital based apprentice system. Conversational text became the "soul talk" of how it was remembered by two West Coast nurses, over a life time. The opportunity to do this project has enabled me to explore some aspects of the lives of women on the West Coast, particularly through the eyes of two wonderful women. Their contribution has been particularly valuable, in that they were able to convey how it was for them as children, and also the experiences of their mother and other women. Both were nurses who trained at Grey River Hospital between 1933 and 1946, and they were able to recall their nursing days on the "Coast," and make a contribution to West Coast history. It has also enabled me to rediscover my own nursing story and to gain insight into the conversations that will inspire my nursing, and enable me to hand on stories to other nurses. This thesis will also be of interest to nurses of the future, reflecting on the past and "experiencing" how it was then.