Mount Gould & Freedom Fields

[pennie]

I only decided to become a nurse so I could leave home-at the tender age of 17 -did orthopaedics first as you could start training at 17!!  I was undecided whether to do Mental Subnormality at Starcross in Exeter (also could start at 17) or orthopaedics at mount gould. Now in January 1971 we had a postal strike (remember?? closely followed by electric, dustmen and every service you could imagine!!)and I could'nt send the applications by post but as my brother worked in Plymouth he hand delivered it-so my carreer was settled-orthopaedics it was!!!
Does anyone else have memories of the 1971 intakes (or thereabouts) and the wonderful tutor Sister Trout (yes really!!)

[backman]

Hello Pennie,
Although doing general training in the mid 1970s,I recall the orthopaedic wards looked somewhat akin to medial torture chambers with Balkan beams,thomas splints,traction and chains,etc?
Frequent back rounds and lots of lifting!
We look forward to more details,and of course if you still have your badge a picture would be great!
Thanks

[pennie]

Ha!! Yes indeed it was like that-but don't forget the bedpan rounds!!  Of course we had no gloves in those days-just a nail brush by each sink should you get anything unmentionable beneath your nails!!!!
I do have badges, and general and mental but the digital camera foxes me!! If I can I will photograph them. There used to be an Orthopaedic State badge but I lost mine sadly, I think it had a sort of oak tree on it-long time ago!
Amazingly most of the patients smoked in those days and were allowed to somke in bed (and of course so did the nurses in the sluice)
After all my training I ended up back on a traumatic orthopaedic and soft tissue injury ward -(Ward 17, Freedom Fields) It was a new ward and I was involved in the setting up of it. When I arrived the first morning and met the rest of the staff we were nearly all old Mount Gouldians who I had trained with-what a fun time we had on that ward!!! When we were required to put our first poor patient up in traction-(Thomas's splint) we had a book propped up against his leg to remind ourselves what bit of string  went where!! Your life in thier hands!!!!
These poor souls today have no fun - they are buried under a stack of paperwork and hardly touch a patient throughout thier training and they are allowed no fun - yes always bathed at the end of a stint on a ward, and what about playing with the Nitrous Oxide in Theatres?????.......................remind me to tell you of the days spent packing dressings packs ready for CSSD with the mental patients.......................