Oral History Program Janice Grace Hassell Interviewed by Marci Farr 13 October 2010 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Janice Grace Hassell Interviewed by Marci Farr 13 October 2010 Copyright © 2010 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 St. Benedict’s School of Nursing was founded in 1947 by the Sisters of Mount Benedict. The school operated from April 1947 to 1968. Over the forty-one year period, the school had 605 students and 357 graduates. In 1966, the program became the basis for Weber State College’s Practical Nursing Program. This oral history project was created to capture the memories of the graduates and to add to the history of nursing education in Ogden. The interviews focus on their training, religion, and experiences working with doctors, nurses, nuns, and patients at St. Benedict’s Hospital. This project received funding from the Utah Humanities Council and the Utah Division of State History. ____________________________________ 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: Janice Grace Hassell, an oral history by Marci Farr, 13 October 2010, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Janice Grace Hassell Graduation Photo Class of 1958 Janice Grace Hassell October 13, 2010 1 Abstract: This is an oral history interview with Janice Grace Hassell, conducted by Marci Farr and Sarah Langsdon, on October 13, 2010. In this interview, Janice discusses her recollections and experiences with the St. Benedict’s School of Nursing. MF: This is Marci Farr. We're interviewing Janice Hassell. She graduated from St. Benedict's School of Nursing in 1958. We're interviewing her at her home in South Ogden. We're going to start out by having you tell us a little bit about your family, where you grew up, and where you went to school. JH: I grew up in Ogden, Utah. I lived with my parents and sister about three blocks from St. Benedict's. MF: Where did you go to school? I went to Ogden High School. In my senior year I met a girl who worked in the dietary department at St. Benedict's. She encouraged me to apply for a job. I did and I worked for Sister Boniface and Sister Philomene until I entered the nursing program in September. This turned out to be a good experience for me as all student nurses rotated through the diet kitchen. I was very comfortable during my rotation due to my previous experience. Sister Boniface became ill right after my rotation, and asked me to assist the next two students through their dietary rotation. I was pleased that she trusted me to do it. MF: That's good. Tell us why you decided to become a nurse. Was their any certain reason? 2 JH: There were several reasons: My sister had Down Syndrome, and I always thought that when I grew up, I could find some way to "fix" her problems. Also, my grandmother lived with us until she died of cancer when I was 12. She was a Practical Nurse who went to patient's homes to care for them when they were dying; and I took a first aid course from a neighbor and was fascinated with learning about it. I had considered being a stewardess too, but you could not wear glasses at that time. MF: So, was this the first time you were away from home? JH: Yes. MF: Was it harder on your mom, than it was on you? JH: It was hard on everybody at first. My parents couldn't understand why I couldn't come home. Also, they did not want me to go into nursing at all. My mother wanted me to get a "good" job as a secretary and not have to carry bedpans. Their perceptions of the program changed rapidly after I showed them what I was learning. MF: Who was your roommate? JH: I had several. My first one was JoAnn Derden. We knew each other in high school. She only stayed for six months. She was in love and wanted to get married. At that time students could not stay in the program if they got married. When she left, a girl across the hall from me moved in as her roommate left too. Her name was Monica McQuaig. She stayed for about 6 more months and she left to get married. My last one at St. Benedict's was Juanita Valdez. We roomed 3 together in Ogden until we graduated. She and I were in different rotations so we went to Denver and Hastings at different times. I roomed with Carolyn Anderson (Kranker) in Hastings. All of us were in single rooms in Denver. MF: Do you remember anything fun that happened with your roommates or funny stories from when you were in the program? JH: Not that I would go on camera and say. MF: What do you remember about the Sisters when you were there? JH: We all loved Sister Berno. She was like a second mother to us. She never raised her voice to us, but very quietly got her point across. She was also very witty and fun to be around especially during social occasions. I, also, loved Sister Giovanni very much. I really cannot remember disliking any of them during my experience in the program. We respected and admired them, and still do. We are very sorry that they are leaving us and going to go back to Minnesota in a few years. MF: Did you have interactions with the Sisters outside of the hospital as far as activities go? JH: Yes. When members of the faculty were getting married and a shower was given, the Sisters were invited too. Also, the students had some parties e.g. Halloween and the Sisters came. Several classes had Sisters who were nursing students. Sister Berno was very active in the nursing organization and some professional meetings were held in the nursing home that we encouraged students to attend. MF: What were your favorite classes? 4 JH: I liked Medical/Surgical Nursing the most. I did not like Math. (We had to go stand up at the blackboard and figure out the answer with everyone watching us.) I really enjoyed learning about the brain too. MF: If you had some time off what would you and your classmates do? JH: We would go shopping in town, go to a movie, go dancing with friends. Depending on the weather, we might go swimming or boating and water skiing. Some of us went snow skiing too. ML: So did you like your psych training in Hastings? Tell us a little bit about while you were on your rotation to Hastings. JH: We were introduced to psychiatric conditions that we would have never seen without this rotation. Some of the patients had been there for many years. We saw the tragic result of a beautiful woman being infected with syphilis by her husband and more or less losing her life. Another woman killed her child by throwing it against the wall, but had no recollection of doing so. She spent her days rocking her doll. We also saw some of the barbaric equipment that had been used to treat patients many years ago. The very day we arrived in Hastings, the housemother called us down to meet several guys. She told us that we would be safe going out with them. The next day a group of us walked into town. We were surprised to not see many people around. Suddenly one of the guys we met the night before stopped and said, 'Are you crazy? Get in this car right now, I am taking you home. On the way 5 back to Ingleside he informed us that a tornado was coming. The following day we rode around with him to look at all of the destruction it caused. Ingleside was a little city unto itself. There were many large tunnels underneath the floors and each one had a locked door. We all had 20 or 30 keys to carry around. Patients were placed together who had similar problems. We got to see people with a wide variety of problems. The staff gave us several interesting lectures that pertained to conditions we would not have seen elsewhere. One memory I have about Ingleside is that most of us gained weight while we were there. Every day they had donuts and rolls waiting for us when we finished work. I had never had peanut butter soup until I went there. MF: How long were you there? Were you there 3 months? JH: Yes - three months there and three months in Denver at the Children's Hospital. Seeing the little children suffering was very hard for me. Sometimes I couldn't sleep at night. I would dream about them crying in pain as we debrided their wounds. This, also, was an excellent learning experience. We saw things there that we would never have seen elsewhere. Two girls in our class met their future husbands when we were in Hastings. Several guys in Hastings, who were going into the army soon, moved to Denver and rented a home while waiting. We went to Denver for our pediatric rotation from September to December and they often provided transportation for us around Denver. One of them went into the service and left his car for us to use 6 until we went back to Ogden. They, also, invited us all to Thanksgiving dinner. One weekend we drove to Hastings to see our classmates there. MF: When you got back to St. Benedict's, what about your rotations in the hospital itself? Which floor did you end up liking the best? JH: The last 6 months of our program we got to choose where we wanted to work. I chose the operating room for 3 months and the surgical floor for 3 months. MF: That's good. What about the doctors? Do you remember any of the doctors you worked with? JH: I worked with all of them who were on the staff at St. Benedict's at one time or another. One of my favorites was Dr. Swindler. He was very skilled, cared very much about his patients, and was very ethical. I did not hesitate to refer patients to him. I did my Master's thesis with patients from his practice with back problems. MF: Tell us about capping. When was it held, and where was it? JH: It was held after we had been in the nursing program for 6 months. You were required to have passed all of your classes. If you hadn't, you were sent home. We were capped on March 7, 1956 at the school of nursing. MF: So it was a great day? JH: It was, yes. MF: A great accomplishment. JH: We thought so. 7 MF: What do you think was your greatest challenge while you were in nurse's training? JH: Not being able to come and go, when and where I wanted. MF: Tell us about graduation. What were your impressions? What did that feel like when you finally were able to accomplish such a great task? JH: We were thrilled at graduation. It was wonderful. We were happy that we made it, and anxious to get going in our new roles. Several students got married right away. We were also sad to leave our classmates. MF: Yes, because you'd been so close for three years. JH: We're still very close now. We have reunions every few years and it is just like we've never been apart. I think we know one another so well that feelings never change. MF: Tell us a little bit about your teaching career when you were at St. Benedict's. JH: Sister Berno first hired me to supervise students in the outpatient clinic and to assist Verla Collins who taught Medical/Surgical Nursing. I was also going to Weber College taking general requirements for a baccalaureate degree in nursing. The following year I received a trainee-ship to go to school full time at the University of Utah. I graduated in August and Sister Berno hired me to teach Medical- Surgical Nursing to the freshman students. I continued taking classes while teaching and received a trainee-ship to obtain my Masters. I completed this in June 1966 and Sister Giovanni hired me to be the Director of Inservice Education in the hospital. I also taught research in the school of nursing. After 8 four years in this position, I accepted a position teaching nursing at the University of Utah. (Both Sister Berno and Sister Giovanni had returned to Minnesota). I continued teaching at the University while I completed classes for my doctorate. I received my PhD in 1985. Many of the Sisters played a part in my life helping me achieve my goals, especially Sister Berno and Sister Giovanni. My parents; husband, (Roy), and children; Chad, Guy, and Suzy have also given me much support over the years.