Today is GivingTuesday!
This #GivingTuesday, we are asking for your support as we work to revitalize the way we tell the story of Canada’s nursing history and change the focus from nursing education to the skilled and often challenging work of a professional nurse.
"A Thing in Petticoats" Nurses and the Contagious Diseases Acts of Britain
The “thing in petticoats” the author describes is an unnamed female nurse who attended patients and aided the military physician at the Flora Lane inspection office. Reportedly, as the widow “entered the surgeon’s den, weeping,” the attending nurse (or “thing in petticoats”) told her “not ‘to take it to heart so.’” While it may appear that this particular nurse was being singled out for her cruelty and dismissiveness toward her patients, the article in its entirety presents a surprisingly scathing attack on all the female nurses who participated in the CD Acts medical examinations.
The Llandovery Castle Tragedy – and the 14 Nurses Who Shaped History
The story of the Llandovery Castle is one of reprieve turned tragedy – the deadliest Canadian naval disaster of World War I. However, its legacy and those of the 14 nursing sisters on board have now been largely forgotten in the pages of history. The implication of this disaster compels a resurfacing of the story and a commemoration of those whose lives were lost.
The Story of Nora Valleau and her career in nursing
If you happen to be browsing through the Museum of Health Care’s online database in the nursing category, you might notice that a lot of the artefacts therein-- 185, in fact-- were donated by one Nora Valleau.
The Story of Nancy Malloy and her noble sacrifice
It was in Chechnya in 1996 that Malloy would lose her life, along with five others, as she slept in the hospital compound at Novye Atagi. A peace treaty had recently been signed between Russia and Chechnya, but tensions were still high after two years of warfare. A group of armed men (later found out to be Russians on a mission gone wrong), entered the hospital and killed Nancy Malloy and her colleagues.
The Story of Viola Allan Abrum and her military commission
Viola Allan Abrum, born on June 9th, 1911, graduated from the Brockville General Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1933. After graduating, she worked as a private duty nurse before enlisting in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. From 1941 to 1945, Captain (Matron) Viola Allan worked as a Nursing Sister in France and Belgium, as well as in England where she took care of Canadian prisoners of war at the No. 9 Unit in Horsham. As a Lieutenant, she received the military commission in 1943. After the war, in 1946, she was decorated as an Associate of the Royal Red Cross.
The Story of Dr. Charles Kirk Clarke and the Rockwood Asylum
the psychiatric field, Clarke worked first as a clinical assistant at the Asylum for the Insane in Toronto, and then as assistant medical superintendent of the Hamilton Asylum. In 1882, he moved to Kingston and began work as assistant medical superintendent at Rockwood Asylum.
Maternal Mental Health Care
More so than practically any other healthcare subject, mental health topics have acquired a need in recent decades for routine updating and research to compensate for centuries of misinformation. The infiltration of the Maternal Mental Hygiene movement and Attachment Theory into the minds and maternity manuals of Canada can shed light onto the progression of the treatment of maternal mental health across the decades.
