Oral History Program Betty Ori Nichols Interviewed by Marci Farr 12 August 2010 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Betty Ori Nichols Interviewed by Marci Farr 12 August 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: Betty Ori Nichols, an oral history by Marci Farr, 12 August 2010, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Betty Ori Nichols Graduation Photo Class of 1953 Betty Ori Nichols August 12, 2010 1 Abstract: This is an oral history interview with Betty Ori Nichols, conducted by Marci Farr, on August 12, 2010. In this interview, Betty discusses her recollections and experiences with the St. Benedict’s School of Nursing. MF: This is Marci Farr. We’re interviewing Betty Nichols. She graduated from St. Benedict’s School of Nursing in 1953. We just want you to start out telling us a little bit about your life, where you grew up, and your family. BN: Okay. Well, I was an only child, which means you’re spoiled, but I really wasn’t. It was hard times, and everybody went through the same thing. No one thought they were poor, so that made it good. I lived in a mining camp; my dad was a coal miner. From the camps in Peerless we went down to Price to finish our schooling. I graduated from Carbon High School. It was a great experience. I had a good childhood and great parents. I can’t ask for anything better. MF: Why did you decide to become a nurse? BN: Well, my girlfriend and I did volunteer work at the hospital as aides. We did that for about two years. I really enjoyed patient care. So that’s when I decided. One thing that made me decide was because the miners worked good in the winter, and then they were laid off in the summer because no one used the coal. I saw what my mother went through worrying about paying bills and things, and I thought, I want a job that has security, and I knew nursing would be security. So you either became a teacher or a nurse. And I chose nursing. MF: How did you end up at St. Benedict’s? 2 BN: There were several girls from the county that were up at St. Benedict’s, and I was influenced by them. MF: Oh, good, so that’s why you decided. Did you have a scholarship? BN: I did. I received a scholarship from the medical auxiliary, and at that time my education cost three hundred dollars. MF: For all three years? BN: All three years. MF: That’s great. Tell us about when you first got up there; did you have to have any assessments? Was there anything as far as meeting any requirements? BN: We did have to send our grades in, and we had to fill out our application, and this was my application, and that was sent in. Then it was approved, and they accepted me. I don’t know if you’ll want that or not, you had to write a little summary of why you wanted to go into nursing. MF: Yes, that’s perfect. In high school, did you have any classes that you took that helped along the way? BN: Chemistry. MF: Chemistry? BN: That was about it. MF: Good. So what did you think when you got up there? Was this your first time away from home? BN: Yes. I was excited. Our class started, and there were thirty-five students, and we were all registering about the same time, and thirteen graduated. MF: Wow, that’s crazy. When you got up there, you had a probationary time, right? 3 BN: Six months. MF: So did that help weed people out, or was it mostly just as time went on? What do you think happened? BN: No, I think some of the girls decided that wasn’t what they wanted, and some of them just couldn’t make it, and many, many reasons, a lot of it personal. MF: Absolutely. You don’t want to get up there and find out it isn’t something that you want to do, and then keep plugging along and be miserable. That would not be fun. Tell us about your house mother. Who was your house mother? BN: I can’t remember her last name. Her name was Lena, and she was a wonderful woman – wonderful, to all the girls. We were assigned a room, of course, the nursing home was almost new, and very nice. Two girls to a room, and then we had a kitchenette, a lounge, and a room that you could wash your clothes. We had to wash all our clothes by hand. We ate over at the hospital, in the cafeteria. Good food. Never could complain, which is unusual. But the nuns were really good cooks. MF: That’s great. Who was your roommate? BN: That first six months, her name was Pat Kingston. She quit – and then a few years later, she was killed in an automobile accident, which was sad. MF: That’s too bad. BN: But then I roomed with a Chinese girl, Francis Tom. She was wonderful. She lives in Hawaii, and we still communicate and write. MF: Oh, good. That’s a great thing. 4 BN: I still keep in touch with a girl in New Hampshire; she was from Woods Cross, and we call on the phone all the time. MF: So you keep in contact with them. That’s great. So how were the nuns when you were in school, as far as the rules and being strict? BN: We did have rules, and I think that’s one thing we lack nowadays. MF: Yes. BN: The rules were not to be broken, and you knew that. If you go along and live by the rules, you don’t mind it. We had to be in by ten o’clock through the week, eleven o’clock on weekends. We had to sign out when we went out, where we were going, and I can understand now, in case anything happened, they’d want to know how to reach us. Then we signed in. When we were in, they had bed check at ten o’clock. We all had to be in bed, and then we’d get up and study after they left. Or study under the covers with a flashlight. MF: Yes, absolutely. Did you have your classes at the hospital? You didn’t have any with Weber State at all, did you? BN: We had all our theory part in the nursing home, and there were classrooms. Then, of course, the clinical in the hospital. MF: Did you have doctors that came in? BN: No, there were lay teachers, and then the sisters taught too. MF: Okay. BN: We had a sister in our class, and a sister in the class behind us that were going through nursing with us. MF: Oh, okay. 5 BN: Then one went on and went through radiology – one went on through teaching. MF: That’s good. So did you have Jeane Morton? Was she one of your instructors, do you remember if she was? BN: Yes, I forgot her name. MF: She was in your capping picture, so I think that she was one of your instructors. BN: Yes, I have a picture of her. MF: Oh good. During your probationary period, did you have certain things that they started having you do? Do you remember? BN: I just think basically it was all theory. Maybe we did start, but it was fifty-seven years ago. I think we started gradually on the floor by taking temperatures in the morning, and then doing blood pressures, and vital signs. Then when we started getting assigned to the units, then we took on actual patient care. Jeane Morton was one of the instructors, one of the clinical instructors, and she was very strict. She made us do everything right down the line, but very good. MF: It probably helped as far as being able to see what you were taught in class, but then to actually go and do that on the floor. BN: I think we had more clinical experience than they do nowadays. Of course, nowadays there’s so much technology, but we gave good patient care. MF: Because you were more personal, and you had the time to spend. You were the ones who took care of every single thing, there wasn’t the critical care, and everything like that. After your six months, did you start doing rotations, is that how that worked? 6 BN: Right. We were three months in one area, and then we’d move on and rotate, and we’d rotate shifts. By then, not right away after six months, probably after the first year, they would make us charge nurses. We had one main supervisor; if we needed her, we would call her. But we took on a lot of responsibility. I look back now, and I think, we really did. But in comparison in what they do now, it’s no comparison at all. MF: So your instructors – did some of them come from the community, the doctors, or were they on staff at the hospital? BN: I can’t remember too many doctors. Maybe once in a while they’d give a lecture. But not teaching. The sisters were very knowledgeable. MF: I think their ability to also not just to teach the nursing aspect, but as far as the service, the care, being able to remember all these people and their needs absolutely made the difference. BN: It really did. MF: I think you put it in a more personal perspective that way. BN: I’ll tell you something else they taught too, was respect for the physicians. You know, we were taught when they came to the station you stand up and you do everything “yes sir”, “no sir”. Very mannerly, and now nurses call doctors by their first names. It bothers me. I think they earn that position. They need the respect. I still call them doctor. They say, “Betty, you don’t have to do that.” For my peace of mind, I do, yes. Just don’t call me Mrs. Nichols, ‘cause it makes me sound old. Call me Betty. I’m not old. I am now, but not then. 7 MF: Young at heart, right? So with curfew, could you go out for the weekend, or go home if you wanted to? BN: Yes. One of the head nurses on the surgical unit was from Price, so she would fix it so I’d have Friday off and Monday off, and I’d have that four-day weekend. MF: Oh, how nice. BN: They were all very nice, and very accommodating. I didn’t go home that much, maybe once a month and maybe not even that often. I’d catch the old Seaford train. We’d ride one train to Salt Lake, and then we’d exchange and go to Price, and it cost five dollars. MF: I’m sure back then – was that just like a fortune? BN: That was a lot. My parents couldn’t afford having me go home too often. MF: I’m sure they were glad when you did, though. BN: They told me that when they didn’t want me to come home. MF: Could you be engaged? Would they let you be engaged but just not married? BN: Yes. I was engaged. I was in nursing a year when my husband went to the Korean conflict. We were engaged, but they wanted you to concentrate on your schooling. MF: When you first started having your duties, what was your favorite? Did you have the diet kitchen? BN: Oh, yes. MF: So what was your favorite rotation when you started? BN: The surgical unit was my favorite. I liked it, and the operating room. I liked surgery, but I would rather have patient contact, so I went to surgical unit. But 8 then, lo and behold, through my later years, I worked my last twenty-one years in the operating room. MF: Isn’t that funny how that changes? BN: Yes. I managed five units, but the operating room was the one I enjoyed the most. MF: Well, that’s good. When you had your capping ceremony, where did that take place? BN: That was after six months we were capped. MF: Okay. BN: I had to stop and think. MF: When you were in training, were you required to attend Mass? BN: On Sundays, yes. They had morning Mass, it was a short Mass, like half hour. Sometimes if you felt like getting up earlier we’d go, but most of the mornings, I didn’t go. MF: Did they have a devotional, was it kind of like that, or was it a special short Mass? BN: A short Mass, in the small chapel in the hospital. We’d get up and go and then we’d hurry and have breakfast, we would work seven to ten, and then we’d go to class from ten to four. Sometimes it might change a little bit for some reason, but then half of the class would go four to seven, and then they’d get off, and the other half would work seven to ten. So you had a three-hour block to study. MF: Oh, that’s good. You would be able to keep up with that pretty well, and still work. 9 BN: We were so happy when we went to Children’s Hospital in Denver, because it was eight hours with everything. MF: Oh, good. BN: That’s all we had to do – but this way we figured, you know, we’re working twelve-hour shifts. MF: That’s true, you were. And plus schooling. Tell me about one of your patients, somebody that you cared for. BN: I can remember her name was Mrs. Fronk, and back then, they kept patients in the hospital. She had cancer and was a sweet little lady. Petite and everything had to be just so; it was difficult, because you’d have like five patients. You would have two bed baths, and a pan bath, and someone that was ambulatory that could do their own, so you’d have to know how to really manage to get all that done. She would want something done - “straighten my closet, straighten my drawers”. It all took time. MF: So everything that was bothering her. The little details. BN: But you know what, we just loved her, everybody did. I can remember turning her, you could hear her little bones pop. It was so sad. But she was such a sweet lady, and I’ve never forgotten her. Plus, I took care of two patients in the iron lung during polio time, and of course they both died. Not because of me – and then when we went to Denver and Children’s Hospital, there was one little boy that had polio, and I remember him. He was such a delightful young man. MF: That’s good. So that influences how you care for them, those ones are the ones that you remember. 10 BN: Then I remember another one that was from Wyoming, and he had cancer of the bowel, and they did a colostomy on him, and I can remember I was on surgical floor, and I took care of him after surgery for three months. I don’t know how much you know about nursing, but taking care of a colostomy patient requires a lot of time. Trying to get everything done, and always being really nice because he was such a wonderful man. Had a black moustache. Finally it was coming time for my rotation, and I rotated to medical, and lo and behold, he went to medical. So I had him for another three months. But it was like he was family, I just really liked him. He was a good man. MF: When you started shifts, when you started being a charge nurse, was after your second year? BN: I think it would probably be about the second year. We were charge nurses, but if there was anything we couldn’t handle, we called the nun who was house supervisor, and she was right there. So there was supervision over us, but we still had to make sure everything worked out. MF: So did you work nights, was that usually a night shift? Or did it just depend? BN: I can’t remember starting nights until later. Yes, we did rotate nights. MF: And you were on each floor for three months? BN: Yes. MF: Are there any traditions you remember, associated with St. Benedict’s during holidays or something that you would do every year? 11 BN: They always made sure we had a nice Christmas – decorations and parties and exchanging gifts. But that was probably the only holiday that they really went out that I can remember. MF: What do you think was one of your greatest challenges while you were going through nurse’s training? BN: The classes. They were so hard. Because you know, when you’re in high school, you take the first ten pages, and you go to college, and you take the first five chapters. You know, it’s two days from today, and then of course your other classes. My study habits were not that good when I went there, but you sure learned in a hurry that you have to buckle down. MF: I’m sure, to get a schedule. Absolutely. BN: That was a challenge for me, it really was. MF: So did you usually study with your roommate, or could you study with other of the nursing students? Did it matter to them? BN: Basically we just stayed with our roommates. We used to do group studies down in the lounge when we had big exams. MF: When you were in the nursing home, could you have visitors come? BN: Oh, yes. MF: That was okay, they’d allow that? BN: Yes. Mostly in the lounge. You couldn’t take men back, or boyfriends or anything, back in where the rooms were. They had to always be in the lounge. MF: That’s good. Was graduation held at St. Josephs church? BN: Yes. 12 MF: Tell us about that. BN: It was a beautiful ceremony. I remember they gave us roses to carry, and the Bishop was there, and it was very nice. I’m thinking in my mind, it had to be at St. Joseph’s, I don’t think we went to the cathedral. MF: I think it probably was. BN: That’s a little blank in my mind. MF: That’s all right. BN: You have to forgive me. My husband passed away in February, and he died of cancer, and for the last two months I had sleep deprivation, because getting up with him during the night and everything. I think it affected my brain cells, but boy it sure didn’t affect my fat cells. They keep going. MF: That’s usually how it happens, darn it. BN: Darn it. MF: After you graduated, did you stay at St. Benedict’s? What did you do? BN: I stayed there for three months, and then lo and behold, the woman that was head of the auxiliary in Price, the clinic that her husband was running couldn’t get a nurse. And she says, Betty, we feel like you feel a little obligated to come down and help us. And I did. So I went down and worked in the clinic, which was two doctors and a dentist. We did minor surgeries there – tonsillectomies and minor things. MF: And your mom and dad were there? BN: Yes, I really enjoyed it. But when you go into an office, you don’t get any benefits, you don’t get the wage. I laugh because I made two hundred dollars a month. 13 When I quit nursing thirty-two years after, I was making two hundred dollars a day. MF: It does make a difference, doesn’t it? What did you do after the clinic? Was your husband home by that time? BN: He came back and we got married, and he was thinking of going in the mines, and I said, “Oh, no, no.” He had worked in the grocery store with the meat-cutters, so he went to Salt Lake and started working at Albertson’s, so we moved to Salt Lake. MF: Did you stay there? BN: We stayed there for a year, and then they moved him down here to Provo, and this is when we bought this home, and then he worked and his boss wanted him to go to California and work in some stores down there. So we went down there for three years, and I worked at the Anaheim General down in California. I was fortunate – I stayed with my children until they were eight and ten. Then we moved back here, which was nice because the drug thing was just coming in California, so I was happy to get back to Utah. We were here forty-some years. MF: Oh, good. Where did you do nursing when you got back here? BN: I started in American Fork Hospital, the old one, and then they built the new one, which IHC took over, and we moved over there, and that is where I stayed. MF: When did you retire, what year? BN: 1992. It’s a wonderful hospital; we had a great medical staff. I think we had fifty doctors at that time. Now they have over a hundred. MF: That is crazy. 14 BN: I started out nights – in nursing you can work shifts, with children at home, and so I rotated. Then, after five years, they made me manager over the operating room. Then about ten years after that they gave me more units, and then the last three years I was assistant director of nursing. MF: That is great. So your training served you well in every aspect of your life – being able to take care of your kids, your husband, and the community. BN: It really does. And you know, we’ve done a lot of volunteer work, and I loved it – I loved every minute of it. MF: That’s good, I’m glad. That’s such a great thing. How do you think nursing has changed? BN: I think in the teaching process, they don’t get enough clinical experience. But I think they have excellent technology skills, that part of it. I think it’s excellent, just with my husband in the hospital as much as he was, I don’t think he had as much personal care that we would have given, but then we didn’t have the machines that they have. MF: Exactly, that takes care of that. That’s probably the thing that makes the difference, is the personal time, plus there are such big wards now. Just taking care of everybody. It’s amazing. BN: Yes. MF: You mentioned you still keep in contact with some classmates. Do you know how many of your classmates are still around? BN: From my class? MF: From ’53. 15 BN: Excuse me a minute. You can look through it. [telephone is ringing] MF: How fun. These books are so great, I love it. So these were kind of your yearbooks, is what these were. BN: Yes. We got that at graduation time. MF: That is fabulous. Thank you for letting us come and for sharing your memories with us.