Amy White Remembers Being a Nurse

By Belinda Wilson

Originally Published in the North Kawartha Times, circa 1985

Amy White graduated from the Toronto General Hospital in 1925, and went on to nurse in institutions, overseas in WWII and as a private duty nurse, in a career that spanned 40 years. Her father was a doctor, her mother a nurse, and her brother, Clark White, also became a doctor. The Whites lived in Kinmount, where Amy’s father was practicing. In 1917, they were burnt out, in one of the many fires that haunted Kinmount in those days.

After the fire, they moved to Fenelon Falls, to the house in which Amy now lives: a house which belonged to her grandparents. There was an opening for a doctor in the village, and so her father assumed a practice here.

In 1922, Amy went off to Toronto, where she put in 12 hours a day, including classes, in her quest to become a nurse. “We learned on the job,” she explained. She said there were no graduate nurses on the floors, only student nurses; the graduate nurses became head nurses. One of the reasons for this was the specification that nurses could not be married. There were not a lot of nurses around; many of the duties on the floor were performed by student nurses, while the few qualified nurses tended to most of the administrative duties, as well as coordinating the nursing activities.

One common method of nursing in those days was private duty, where a nurse would be hired by a family or individual to tend to them in their home. The pay was $5 per 12 hour day for private duty, as opposed to $65/month plus room and board, as an institutional nurse.

Amy performed as a private duty nurse until World War Two, when she joined the Navy and served on the HMCS Niobe, in Greenock, the port for Glasgow. This was the only Canadian nursing naval base overseas, and Amy was one of only 18 women overseas to wear the Gold Cap Badge: indeed an honour, because this was worn by naval officers.

The naval base in Greenock was originally the Smithson Insane Asylum and Poor House and here Amy and her colleagues provided care for anyone who needed it. Nationality was not a determining factor, and all who came to the base for care received it.

Since Greenock was the leading port for every Canadian ship headed overseas, Amy found herself changing casts and dressings, and providing care for Canadian soldiers and naval personnel on their way to war.

Amy served overseas for 28 months. After returning to Canada, she served as head nurse on the night shift at Hamilton General Hospital from 1946 to 1950, at which time she went to Collingwood. There she was superintendent of the hospital, and worked in that capacity for 5 years.

She returned to Hamiton for 7 years, and concluded her nursing career in Burlington. She retired in 1965, after 40 years in the profession. In that time Amy has seen many medical advancements. When she began training, insulin was just being introduced. She saw the elimination of infectious diseases like polio, typhoid fever and smallpox; but she had much experience with these diseases in her career too. “It seems as one disease is eliminated, another comes along to take its place. Nurses today will probably never see a case of polio, but they will likely have to deal with diabetes that we never experienced,” she said. “Diseases like Alzheimer’s probably existed, but were not diagnosed as such. Now there are recognizable symptoms and they can be dealt with.”

Amy noted that all the changes in the medical world were gradual, and is aware of the work in developing effective treatments. “When I was at Toronto General, I was head nurse on the floor where experiments took place. They were testing drugs and treatments to aid diabetics, arthritics and others suffering from afflictions.”

Miss White commented on the nursing profession today. I think that nurses are getting nervous… this Grange Commission inquiry has made them leery of practicing. [A 1985 inquiry by Justice Samuel Grange into the deaths of babies at Sick Kids Hospital that led to a criminal trial and acquittal of nurse Susan Nelles.] They can be sued just the same as doctors. I think it’s getting worse all the time for them. It’s taking them away from their patients too. Because they have to keep extremely accurate records of everything that they do, more of their time is spent in writing reports and less time is spent with the patients.”

Happy to be retired now, Amy White keeps active by doing woodwork, refinishing furniture, and not allowing herself to become bored. She takes night courses at college, and keeps her mind active by learning new things. “I should write a book about my life… I’ve had such an interesting one, and I’ve enjoyed myself. I’ve done more than a lot of people,” she said.

She added a piece of advice that seems to be her motto: “Don’t wait around for someone else to do things with. If you wait for somebody else, you’ll never get to do anything. Get out and do it on your own. There is always someone who needs and extra hand for bridge, or one more person to fill a seat on a trip. Don’t worry about not knowing anyone, wherever you are going… there will be someone there to get to know.”

This philosophy has provided Amy White with an independence that has enabled her to enjoy herself wherever she has gone and to get the most out of life by not waiting around for someone to join in her adventures.”