More Info →Foxton Maternity Home 1942-1982 Page 34

Description

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there. This particular time, wetas were dropping all over me!-as I walked onto the porch. On my shoulders and on my head! I made such a noise that Sister Nicholson came rushing out in her shortie pyjamas to see what the bedlam was! (She had been asleep in the flat) and she dealt fearlessly with the drama! She was not afraid of anything it seems! Not even Wetas!

Another time when I was on night-duty, and was in the matrons flat seeing to a duty, to my horror, I saw the rear outside door handle slowly turning! Frozen with fright I pulled myself together quickly, and phoned Sister Nicholson, who was once again sleeping in the, 'off the main building back-flat.' She came running over to the Home (in her shorties) without a thought to her own safety!

She was so kind and stayed in the matrons flat for the rest of the night.

Thanks Gaelyne Boerboom (nee Corley)
( Former nurse aid)

A Fear For Me While on Night-Duty Was,

Ward, theatre, and door bells in dead of the night.

If one rang, my legs would feel like rubber as the darn bells were so loud and
startling! And I would have to hurry on wobbly legs to answer the call,
be it from a patient in the wards or in the theatre or someone at the front door.

(Of course if a patient was corning into the maternity home to give birth, there
would generally be a phone call first and then the senior person would have to
be woken to tend to the expectant mother on her arrival.)

The device that the ringing came from was a left-over from when the hospital was house privately owned by the Symons family.
It was a square box, situated inside the kitchen, above the door, was glass-fronted, and had four numbers corresponding with the four bells in the house. The appropriate number would flick down to indicate the area that the bell was ringing from. Quite a neat idea for then ...

The small room off the maternity home's kitchen was originally the MAID'S room - so when a member of the family required something, a bell would ring to summons the maid to the appropriate person.

Thank you to Phyl Lash, for her knowledge about the, "Bell-Box"
Fran Ellis (nee Ellis)
(Former nurse-aid)

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Identification

Date

2005