Oral History Program Patricia Pilcher Layton Interviewed by Marci Farr 4 August 2008 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Patricia Pilcher Layton Interviewed by Marci Farr 4 August 2008 Copyright © 2009 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in Special Collections. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Dee School of Nursing was founded in 1910 to provide training for nurses who would staff the new Dee Memorial Hospital. The first class of eight nurses graduated from the school in 1913 and the school continued to operate until 1955, with a total of more than 700 graduates. A new nursing school and home located just east of the hospital was completed in 1917 and all nursing students were required to live in the home during their training. This oral history project was created to capture the memories of the school's alumni before their stories disappear in the same way the Dee Hospital has disappeared. The oral interviews focus on how the women became involved with the school, their experiences going through training, and how they used the training. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management Special Collections All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Patricia Pilcher Layton, an oral history by Marci Farr, 4 August 2008, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Patricia Pilcher Layton Graduation Photo Class of 1954 Patricia Pilcher Layton September 16, 2009 Abstract: This is an oral history interview with Patricia Pilcher Layton. It was conducted August 4, 2008 and concerns her recollections and experiences with the Dee School of Nursing. The interviewer is Marci Farr. MF: This is Marci Farr. We are interviewing Patricia Pilcher Layton in her home in Washington Terrace. It is August 04, 2008. She is a graduate of the class of 1954. Could you tell us a little bit about your early life, your education, and where you grew up? PL: I was born in, and grew up in, Ogden. I graduated from high school at Ogden High. I went into nurses training the next school year. MF: Okay. So what made you decide to become a nurse and choose the Dee Hospital? PL: It was strange. You know how young people are; they do not really know what they want to do. One day I thought, “Oh it might be fun to go into nursing,” and I mentioned it to my mother. Before I knew it she had me up there, getting me registered into the program. You know why? My father died, my biological father, two months before I was born. She had three other children, three boys and me. She had a hard time. She realized the importance of a female having an occupation or a profession. MF: An education. PL: Yes. She thought that was great that I finally decided on something. MF: So that is how you decided. She just signed you up and there you go. 1 PL: MF: Yes. And I thought, “Oh ok.” So what were your impressions when you entered the Dee Hospital, as far as living in the nurses’ home, your schedule, and routine? PL: Well it was fun and it was hard too at the same time. We did have a social life there too, in the nurses’ home. Our schedule was well structured by the nursing school staff. MF: What did you used to do if you had a day off or a night off? PL: Well with me living right in the city I could go home on the days that I did not have anything to do. We would get together and study for tests but that ended up in kind of an undisciplined get together. We would make fudge, there was a kitchen there. We would talk about different things, boys and stuff too while we were at it. But yes, we would get together and study with several of our closest friends. MF: You shared a room with a roommate correct? PL: Yes. MF: Who did you share your room with? PL: Hope Kohler was one, there were some different ones. She is the only one that I really remember, maybe LuAnn Quist. We were together a lot so it is hard to really picture which one slept there. MF: What were some of the classes that you had to take? You took some at Weber College and you also took some at the hospital correct? PL: Yes we had to walk down to the Weber College. MF: When you started your shift, work, go to class, etc, how did your day go? 2 PL: When we were “probees” in the first part of our training, I think it was just mostly schooling, class work. When we got a little more educated and knew what we were doing. We did go on the floors, and our nursing instructor would be with us. The instructor was to be with us at all times to make sure we did things right. They were wonderful women too; they were so good, very knowledgeable. MF: PL: That makes it good so then you feel a little more secure. Then as time went by we would have our shift work. They were pretty strict with us if we didn’t do something they would come get us out of bed at night and have us go over and finish up. If we took the narcotic key home accidentally in our pocket we would have to take it back. They always knew where to find us. MF: You had some doctors that would come and teach your classes, correct? Some of them were the doctors at the hospital? PL: Lectures, yes. MF: Somebody also said that you were affiliated with the University of Utah right? Did you have lectures from there? PL: I do not remember that. I know down at Weber College we took classes. The one I remember most is Bacteriology. The professor that taught us was so germ conscious. He admitted to that and said he really had a rough time with that when he went into that field. MF: After you were done being a probee you had your capping and pinning ceremony. Do you remember when that took place? PL: Yes. MF: Do you remember where that took place at? 3 PL: It must have been in a church. There was an organ there. Did anybody tell you? MF: That is what we’ve heard. We talked with Melva Crookston and that is what she told us. PL: Oh yes. MF: She thought that it was in the church too. PL: I did not retain all of that information. MF: After six months you started shift work, correct? PL: I think that was when it was. MF: What was your typical day like on a shift? What would you do if you were in the morning shift? PL: Bed baths, they are always in the morning. It seems like we did not have a lot of patients to care for. We sort of did total patient care with one or two I think. We gave medications and everything too after awhile. I am not sure when we started that. We always had supervision. The thing I remember most is how they taught us to look at the medication on the shelf or in the drawer or wherever it was and make sure it was the correct medication. As you are pouring the dose you read the name of the medication again, and as you put it back on the shelf, do a triple check on it. I still do that. MF: What were some procedures you had to do? You had to sharpen needles. Did you still have to sharpen your needles? PL: And autoclave them in the little small autoclave on the floor. MF: The thermometers, did you get a hundred and shake them? Were you responsible if you broke some? 4 PL: No, I do not think I ever shook down that many. We wrapped them in a towel and shook them down. You would go around putting them in everyone’s mouth and by the time you got back to the first one. It might have been quite a while that they were sitting there with a thermometer in their mouth because we were kind of slow. MF: What was something that you did if you had a night off? PL: Well we did some dating and we met young men through the other young men and girls we hung out with. We went to some dances, and some of the gals dated a lot; they even stayed out past the curfew hour. MF: What time was your curfew? PL: Ten I believe. Then they had to be helped in a window when they came back home. We gave that housemother a hard time. She was really elderly. MF: Yes. Do you remember what her name was? PL: No. Sorry. MF: We asked Melva that too and she says she could not remember either. PL: If she could not remember then that makes me feel better. I know a gal that would remember a lot of things. She lives in Salt Lake and I have tried to call her. It is Hope Kohler Mortensen. Have you interviewed LuAnn Quist Slater? MF: Not yet. PL: She would be good too. MF: We have talked to Helen Farr. Do you know Helen Farr? PL: Oh yes. 5 MF: Yes Helen is wonderful. And Dorothy Bird was she at the hospital when you were in nurse’s training? PL: I think she was working there at the time. MF: We talked to Faye Ball, Faye Longhurst. PL: Yes. We were in the schools Alumni Presidency at the same time. MF: Our oldest one we have talked to was Alta Roskelley. She is ninety-four. She graduated in 1936. PL: Oh, and isn’t that something? MF: Oh and she is delightful. It was so fun. Yes, we have had quite a range so we are very excited. My mom’s cousin Phyllis Ball who lives in Bountiful was the second interview we’ve done. PL: How many have you done? MF: Thirteen or fourteen so far. We are very excited about this project. On Sundays, if you did not work were you required to attend church or was it optional if you wanted to? PL: No we were not required to. MF: What was your uniform? PL: Our uniforms were white dresses, hose, and shoes. We did not wear pants back then. MF: Did the hospital supply your uniform? PL: I believe they did. MF: You did not have to pay anything for your uniform, anything like that. PL: No. We did have to pay for our shoes and hose though. 6 MF: Your shoes, you had to keep them polished? PL: Oh yes. MF: Very polished, everything neat. Your nylons, we heard about your nylons. PL: Yes. They were so hot too. MF: I am sure in the summer. PL: Yes, especially if you had long hair, and had to wear the hair net, I did that is why I remember that. MF: You graduated in 1954. Is that correct? PL: Yes. MF: While you were in training did you receive any pay? PL: Yes. MF: Do you remember how much you were paid? PL: Well it was by the hour. We could work whenever, they needed someone. I can not remember, it must have been about six dollars a shift. MF: I know, everybody said it was not very much but just enough to get by on. PL: Yes it helped. And a dollar was worth a lot more. MF: Did you know any of the members of the Dee family at all? PL: Not personally but I recognized a couple of them. MF: After graduation did you stay at the Dee hospital? What did you do with your nursing career after that? PL: I got married the year before I graduated. My husband got out of the navy within a week of me graduating from nurse’s training and we moved to North Salt Lake. I did not work after I graduated for about seven years. We were living in Salt 7 Lake when I went to work part time at St. Marks Hospital. It was hard though because their forms and paperwork were different from the Dee Hospital. I had four kids in four and a half years. I was kind of busy with the children. Then we moved to Ogden and I applied for a job at the Dee Hospital. They put me on as charge nurse that very first shift that I worked. I said, “Oh I can not do that. I do not know anything about anything here.” You know, after that many years, the paperwork and all that stuff had changed. They said, “Oh you can handle it.” With the help of the Lord and my co-workers; I and the patients survived. MF: How long did you stay at the hospital? PL: The Dee Hospital? MF: Yes. PL: I worked for over thirty years, thirty consecutive years because I had a couple more kids and stayed home with them beyond a year. MF: What year, do you remember did you retire? PL: 1995. MF: Do you think nursing has changed over the years? PL: Oh yes. MF: How do you think it has changed? From what you were taught you were really well trained. PL: We really were well trained and had that third year to improve our skills before we graduated. MF: In every single aspect of the whole hospital instead of having a specialized area. Nowadays it is more they are educated instead of trained 8 PL: They do not do those little extras like we used to do. They tend the computers and monitors; we started charting on the computer before I retired. We did not have it all completely accomplished. About the time I retired they started using heart monitors. We had to learn about the monitors and other sophisticated equipment. MF: Is there anything else you thought of that you would like to share with us as far as your memory there at the Dee hospital? PL: It was a good experience and I was glad I was in the three year program. MF: Instead of trying to do it in two? PL: Yes. Because we had a lot more clinical experience before we had to go out on our own. MF: You had great nurses too as far as supervisors go. PL: Yes, oh I think so. MF: It made a big difference. PL: I loved it. We still have a reunion every year, you knew that? MF: We did and have been invited to come. PL: Good. MF: We are very excited to come. They are very gracious to let us come. PL: Yes, they are a wonderful group of special ladies. MF: You know, I was telling my boss, I said, you know, you have become part of my family now.. You have shared part of your life with me. PL: Well you just fit right in so we will keep you. MF: Did you guys do anything in the summer while you were at the nursing school? 9 PL: I think we went year round to school, but we went for walks up above the hospital to a home that had a rock wall around the property. We did have a lot of get togethers. There was an auditorium in the nurses’ home. I play the piano and we used to get together and sing…a lot of fun things. MF: Did they still have the choir when you were going through? PL: No. MF: That must have just been an earlier thing? PL: Yes MF: Thank you so much for letting us come interview you. PL: You are welcome. MF: We appreciate you taking time for us. PL: Thank you. 10