Why nursing? Oh, that’s an easy one.” Even now, at 78, Penny remembers when she realised her calling. Her father, a veteran of both World Wars, was recovering from cataract surgery, confined to a hospital bed, unable to move, for six long weeks. As a young girl, Penny watched his nurse care for him and she fell hopelessly in love with the profession. From that time on, she never dreamt of becoming anything else.
At 17, Penny arrived at the nurse’s residence beside the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, her goal as clear as ever. After waving her mother goodbye, she was handed a frighteningly white starched nursing uniform and cap. She struggled into the uniform as best she could before being marched off to be presented to the matron. “The matron at the time was very severe. I was petrified.” Penny smiles wryly. Her training was split between the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the Conradie Hospital, where she learned to care for adults. It was the paediatric nursing, though, that captured her heart. After finishing her diploma, she travelled to Edinburgh to complete the midwifery training that was a prerequisite for specialising in paediatrics.
When she finished her course in Scotland, her boyfriend begged her to join him in Durban so they could be married. She told him to wait one more year; her heart was drawn back to the Red Cross and her ultimate goal of becoming a paediatric nurse. Not even a marriage proposal could rival the tug she felt. “It’s very difficult to explain,” Penny says slowly. “It’s a feeling. It was so much part of my life. You fall in love with the Hospital. It’s a beacon of hope for children all over the country and from afar. I just loved being part of it.” Many decades later, that love is still drawing her back. Although Penny’s nursing days are long over, she still serves on the Hospital’s health facility board and loves that she gets to visit the Hospital every second month for meetings. “It’ll be a sad day when I have to…” she says, her voice trailing off before she laughs softly. “I’m 78 now. It’s been a long haul.”
She has memories spanning decades. She remembers a time before the Red Cross Children’s Hospital had an intensive care unit, and severely ill children were cared for in the ward by a dedicated nurse. One memory from her first year as a student nurse stands out particularly starkly. There had been an error in the formulation of a sleeping medication, and the Hospital was inundated with poisoning cases. The children were in critical condition. One day, she was called in to cover for the nurses in charge while they were on break. “It was very scary,” Penny recalls. The children were on dialysis and life support.“As a student nurse, you know nothing,” Penny says with a soft laugh. “I called on a lot of divine intervention, ‘Dear Lord, tell me what to do!’
Why nursing? Oh, that’s an easy one.” Even now, at 78, Penny remembers when she realised her calling. Her father, a veteran of both World Wars, was recovering from cataract surgery, confined to a hospital bed, unable to move, for six long weeks. As a young girl, Penny watched his nurse care for him and she fell hopelessly in love with the profession. From that time on, she never dreamt of becoming anything else. At 17, Penny arrived at the nurse’s residence beside the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, her goal as clear as ever. After waving her mother goodbye, she was handed a frighteningly white starched nursing uniform and cap. She struggled into the uniform as best she could before being marched off to be presented to the matron. “The matron at the time was very severe. I was petrified.” Penny smiles wryly.
Her training was split between the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the Conradie Hospital, where she learned to care for adults. It was the paediatric nursing, though, that captured her heart. After finishing her diploma, she travelled to Edinburgh to complete the midwifery training that was a prerequisite for specialising in paediatrics. When she finished her course in Scotland, her boyfriend begged her to join him in Durban so they could be married. She told him to wait one more year; her heart was drawn back to the Red Cross and her ultimate goal of becoming a paediatric nurse. Not even a marriage proposal could rival the tug she felt. “It’s very difficult to explain,”
Penny says slowly. “It’s a feeling. It was so much part of my life. You fall in love with the Hospital. It’s a beacon of hope for children all over the country and from afar. I just loved being part of it.” Many decades later, that love is still drawing her back. Although Penny’s nursing days are long over, she still serves on the Hospital’s health facility board and loves that she gets to visit the Hospital every second month for meetings.
“It’ll be a sad day when I have to…” she says, her voice trailing off before she laughs softly. “I’m 78 now. It’s been a long haul.” She has memories spanning decades. She remembers a time before the Red Cross Children’s Hospital had an intensive care unit, and severely ill children were cared for in the ward by a dedicated nurse. One memory from her first year as a student nurse stands out particularly starkly. There had been an error in the formulation of a sleeping medication, and the Hospital was inundated with poisoning cases. The children were in critical condition. One day, she was called in to cover for the nurses in charge while they were on break.
“It was very scary,” Penny recalls. The children were on dialysis and life support.“As a student nurse, you know nothing,” Penny says with a soft laugh. “I called on a lot of divine intervention, ‘Dear Lord, tell me what to do!’
