Image provided by: North Santiam Historic Society; Gates, OR
About The Mill City enterprise. (Mill City, Or.) 1949-1998 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1967)
Retired Registered Nurses Asked To Come Back to Work to Relieve Shortage Upon contemplating this chapter of a hospital story, all sorts of saccharine adjec tives come to mind. Certain ly nurses look just as much like angels today, in their wing-tipped caps, as they did when Flo Nightingale was setting the pace—and they do maintain a beatific com posure that defies analysis bun the truth is, a nurse has GOT to be constructed of pretty solid, unethereal stuff. In the first place, there’s a shortage — and any nurse worth her salt is having a heck of a time convincing herself that she shouldn’t work a double shift occasion ally. In the second place, she sometimes does. At Santiam Memorial Hos pital, steps are being taken to ease the shortage problem, in part. A refresher program is in process whereby a nurse whose license has lapsed, or who simply feels that she has been away from her vo cation too long, may work a regular shift under super vision for a minimum of 240 hours, and recoup. One nurse has already joined the SMH ranks after taking this course and another is in the works. It is a happy arrangement. In our community, a num ber of “retired” nurses have been persuaded to join the staff, on at least a part time basis. This refresher course offers an unusual opportunity to still others. At present, our hospital schedules sixteen registered nurses, only four of whom work full time. There are two RN’s on the morning and afternoon shifts, and one on the night shift plus one on call for obstetrical or surgery duty. There are 18 nurses’ aides, six of whom work part time. These ladies are very im portant to the nursing de partment. They are carefully screened and trained, and be come experts at their jobs. There are two licensed prac tical nurses on our staff, also. With so many people work ing part time, scheduling by the director of nurses, Mrs. Yvonne Crandall, and the surgery supervisor, Mrs. Bar bara Morris, gets to be sort of a game of chess. Add the “call” schedule, and you have a Yahtze game on the side. Once scheduled, the nurse’s duty begins by hearing a re port from the nurse who is going off. This is a verbal rundown on all the patients in the house, and the hap penings of the preceding shift, and it is extremely im portant. (She will give a sim ilar report to the nurse who follows her.) After report she may make a quick trip through the ward checking the patients and meeting the new ones. Then she sets up medications, as signs her aides, makes rounds with the doctors, and pre pares to carry out his new orders, if any. During the course of her shift, she will spend a great deal of time making nota tions on each patient’s chart. She will record the tempera ture, pulse and respirations per minute. The medications given and at what time, and make notes on the patient’s progress from time to time. She gives no medications, treatments or tests unless an order has been written and signed by the doctor. Once the order is given, it is her job to see that it is carried out to the letter. The patient is her responsibility in the doctor’s absence. She is also responsible for the actions of any person who comes in contact with the patient while she is in charge. She assigns each aide to specific patients. The aides give baths and massages, take temperatures and blood pres sures, observe surgery pla- tients, assist patients in and out of bed and help them walk about. The aides develop a sort of built-in radar that alerts them to anything out of the ordinary which should be reported to the nurse in charge. The nurse’s daily routine is one thing. The extras are something else, and this Is where the angel business, as well as the solid construction, comes in. One big extra is the outpatient department and emergency room. The nurse must check the outpatient who arrives for emergency care, call either his physician or the doctor on call and report her observations, and then follow up the doctor’s order for medication or tests, or make the outpatient com fortable and keep an eye on him until the doctor arrives. There are other extras. To begin with, the nurse is fol lowing the orders of several different doctors, all of whom have ther own ways of mak ing their patients well, and all of whom count on her to follow through. And she does! She may also: Reassure con cerned relatives and friends on the phone; start an intra venous solution; give an in halation machine treatment to a patient in respiratory distress; deploy her aides on the ward while she helps the doctor put on a cast in the emergency room; fit a pa tient with a pair of crutches; take time and care in explain ing about a patient’s treat ment at home; and every thing that happens to the inpatient must be recorded on the chart before she goes home. There is no simple way to describe a nurse. Hospital doors stay open because she is inside, carrying her tray of pills and potions from room to room, moving quickly and quietly through the halls, watching out to ease a pain, return a smile, stiengthen a will. She is the pulse of the hospital. Work Smarter.. Not Harder By Bernice Strawn Extension Home Management Specialist Oregon State If you have a maple chop ping block, try this to keep it from discoloring, cracking or warping. Every two or three months, brush a little warm salad oil on the surface. Let it stay overnight. Next morning, wipe off excess oil. Good care of household items means money in your pocket in the long run. New study lamps with the Better Light Better Sight ap- proved tag have delighted their owners. Homeowners tell us they are amazed at the amount of light given off in comparison to their other lamps. Aslo, they like the soft shadowless light. These lamps are scientifical ly designed to give a wide spread of light. The price is reasonable, too. Help prevent a round of colds for your family dur ing chilly, changeable weather —when washing dishes, scald them to destroy bacteria. Use a fresh towel for drying. If you have a dishwasher, make sure the water heater temperature is set high, and be certain you really have hot water before you turn on the dishwasher. You could inadvertently use tepid water if the hot water supply is limited and you just did the laundry or someone showered. Research has shown that mechanical dishwashing kills more bacteria than the usual hand dishwashing methods be cause hotter water and strong er detergents can be used. Santiam Ripples By Peggy Cooper During the Student Council meeting on March 21, the main order of business was passing activity sheets. The Sophomores’ sheet for a Car Wash to be held April 29, was passed and a sheet for the Junior-Senior Prom on April 28, was also passed. It was mentioned that the High School Open House will be on Thursday, April 6. Plans were made for an assembly on April 14, when a singing group from U of O will be entertaining. John Kelly, a former Santiam student, is a member of the group, railed the Bitterlicks. On Friday, March 24, the G.A.A. met Varsity ‘S’ in a Handicap Basketball game, sponsored by G. A. A. The handicap held the boys’ scor ing down, but they pulled through in the final seconds of the game for a 13-12 vic tory. Varsity ‘S’ held a dance following the game. 3—The Mill City Enterprise, Thursday, March 30, 1967 THE MILL CITY ENTERPRISE P. O. Box 348 Phone 897-2772 MUI City, Ore. 97360 Published at Mill City, Marion County, Ore. every Thursday Entered as Second Class Mail Matter at the Postoffice at Mill City, Oregon, under the act of Congiess of March 3, 1879. The Mill City Enterprise assumes no financial responsibility for errors in advertisements. It will, however, reprint without charge or cancel the charge for that portion of an advertisement which is in error if The Enterprise is at fault. An independent newspaper, dedicated to the development of the timber industry and agriculture in this area. 0? NEWSPAPER \ PUBLISHERS NATIONAL NEWSPAPER A C0TI^N ASSOCIATION AFFILIATE MEMBER Subscription Rates Marion-Linn Counties, per year ............ $3.50 Outside Marion-Linn Counties, per year $4.00 Outside Oregon, per year. $4.50 DON W. MOFFATT Editor and Publisher ALTA MOFFATT ... General News—Bookeeper GOLDIE RAMBO... ... Society and News Editor LLOYD ROSE......... ................ Machinist-Printer CORRESPONDENTS Detroit-Idanha Gates............. . Mill City ....... Lyons ............ Mehama......... HOME PLANNING .................... Joyce..Dewhurst-Ginny Kniss ..................................... Mrs. Shirley Swaim ................................................... Rose Cree ................................................. Eva Bressler ................... Merle Teeters • Jean Roberts LET US HELP YOU BUILD Hundreds of plans and variations in our files can help you decide what you need in that home you want to build. Just drop in and let us know that you’d like to get some planning ideas. 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