“I will certainly miss the hospital ... it’s been part of my life.”
BERNICE MCLENNAN, a clinical nurse at Maleny Hospital for almost 35 years, has decided to call it a day. She retires this month after spending almost all her working life in country hospitals. A few days before she put aside her uniform for good, she spoke with HT editor, Michael Berry.
“I said from the age of five that I was going to spend my entire life as a nurse, “says Bernice, and her face breaks into a smile. “All my rag dolls had appendectomies, and they were covered with big black stitches,” she adds with an infectious laugh.
“I did my four years of general training in Wondai in 1959, in conjunction with the Royal Brisbane Hospital. I graduated in September 1963 and then I went to Adelaide’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital where I did my midwifery.”
In looking back Bernice is conscious that nursing has changed greatly since 1959. She worked a 44 hour week in Adelaide and was rostered off only three days a fortnight. She became engaged to her husband John prior to going to study midwifery in Adelaide. Following her graduation in Midwifery she decided to go to Myrtleford, Victoria for around six months before returning to Murgon in 1965 to take up a position at Murgon Hospital in early February.
“I loved the work in small rural hospitals ” says Bernice “because the city hospitals seemed to focus on specialities and I liked the combination of general and midwifery nursing.
“John and I were married in September 1965 in Murgon and we were there five years. I resigned just before our first son, Scott was born, but they called me back to work at the Murgon Hospital when he was three weeks old.” This was not uncommon in that era due to staffing shortages, particularly midwives as this time was the beginning of the baby boomers.
There was a special area set aside for staff babies to occupy, away from the sick people in the hospital and she cannot recall a staff baby becoming ill from being in the hospital.
Such was the constant demand for good nurses that Bernice soon found herself juggling a new baby and working up to six days a week at the Murgon, Wondai and Cherbourg hospitals. John’s career with the ambulance service then took them to the pretty town of Proston, 280km west of Brisbane. There just happened to be an outreach health clinic operating on a daily basis with a Doctor attending from Wondai Hospital for two hours a week. Soon after arriving in Proston, Bernice was appointed to the position of Clinic Sister as it was known in those days. It was here that she learned many skills that she has found to be useful in the following years of her career.
There was a second baby and a short period in Mitchell, on the Warrego Highway before the McLennans settled for good in Maleny in 1975. John was appointed superintendent of the ambulance service.
Bernice says working in a country hospital hasn’t changed much in 35 years. There is still the close interaction with the patient and local families and also good staff team work is vital for survival in rural areas apart from the never ending paperwork.
“We have of course come a long way with technology and education . There is more involvement with family care, and there are many more resources to draw on than we once had. There are many more monitoring systems in place to monitor practices now and a constant need to improve delivery of care.”
“We have our students coming through which is wonderful. I really enjoy having them here because you learn from them as much as they learn from you. The older nurses like me teach them the basic skills that they will have for the rest of their lives. That is not always possible during their academic training.”
“The downside for my vintage is the amount of paperwork we have to do even for a simple procedure.” I guess it’s all to do with modern day legalities.
Bernice’s cheerful and upbeat manner seems at odds with the constant emotional pressures of nursing. How has she managed to keep her personal life on an even keel.
“I guess as nurses we talk to one another. We tend to debrief one another much more effectively than we do with professionals, probably because we are experiencing the same situations. But I don’t think we ever get used to loss. We simply talk it out with each other and with families.”
One also wonders why this energetic and ebullient woman wants to retire. Won’t she soon get bored?
“I just feel it’s time. My body tells me now and again that it’s time to stop. “ You get to a stage in your life,” adds Bernice thoughtfully “when things can get you down and sometimes I run out of the energy that I know I need to meet the needs and the standard that’s required of us.” This mainly applies to the constant changes occurring within the profession.
Bernice will continue being secretary to the Helping Children Smile mission to the Philippines and concedes that she may apply for casual work at Maleny Hospital after a few months.
Reflecting on her contribution to the Maleny Hospital Bernice has been told that in latter years she has been seen as a “great resource person”.
“I think a lot of that comes with time. You cannot gain extensive experience over a short space of time. You become wise because of the experience you have. Experience isn’t taught, and I’m still learning myself after all these years. You don’t ever stop learning.
There are so many exciting things happening in the health industry and I do hope that our nurses take the opportunity to pursue these opportunities.
I will certainly miss the hospital. It’s been part of my life. I will miss the work, I will miss the staff, I will miss the patients, I will miss the company and the stimulation. I am very appreciative of the staff, community and family support given me over the years. We do live in a very supportive community here. Finishing my career in a Soldiers Memorial Hospital is indeed an honour that not everyone has the opportunity to experience.
And will the hospital let Bernice McLennan go quietly as she would like?
“ I wanted to go out of the back door and disappear,” she says with a laugh “but they said no, and I am hearing that they’re planning something,” she adds with a smile and a frown. I like parties, but not in my honour she says.
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