Interview by Charles Thompson

Baddeck High School. When my grandmother eventually needed help, she lived with us, I cared for her. That is what you did in the day, family members stayed at home and were taken care of by other members of the family. It fell upon me to give my grandmother her insulin every day." I had to ask, as a young high school kid, you were allowed to give your grandmother her insulin by needle? “Yes” Sally says, “I did." The mind boggles.

In those days there was no internet, cell phones, or satellite dishes. You had the party line and visits to stay in touch. Community was important as they needed to look after each other. Looking out for each other was a necessity for all the small communities. Sally stated "I also stayed with other residents in the area looking after them, I really enjoyed it."

The caring part of her personality was already taking form. "After I graduated, I enrolled in secretarial school, I lasted two days!" Strangely, Sally had not yet followed her caring personality into the logical path of nursing. In those days women could be nurses, secretaries, or teachers. Looking back, it is incredible how stratified society was and how pigeonholed the role of women were. Fortunately, that has changed for the better. The "glass ceiling" that existed in those days must have been made of plexiglass because women, for the most part, could not punch through.
After only two days Sally knew she was not cut out for typing and filing so she enrolled in an LPN course in New Waterford. The rest, as they say, is history.

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Sally had found her niche, a place for her love of people and after graduating went to work at the then City hospital in Sydney. Two months later she got a call from the Baddeck hospital (the old hospital), and interviewed for a position there. She was successful and started in 1979, becoming full time in May of 1980. That was 44 years ago, the number jumps out at you!

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Sally’s husband Norman has been at Home Hardware for 47 years so they don't appear to be flight risks. Sally reflects "I remember thinking, who stays at a place for so long?” Probably as we chat some of the younger nurses at the station are thinking the same thing. It is the luxury of youth.

I keep being brought back to that number, 44, those are Chow/Genge type numbers. In for the duration we used to call it. You stayed as long as you needed to get the job done, be it days or years, the job was the focus of your working existence. Sally gives one other example of how the job came first. She was at a dance at the Fire Hall and received a call to come to work. Sally replied that she had no uniform with her and the reply was not to worry they would have a lab coat waiting for her. She went to work at 2 am and was there for the remainder of the night.

Sally briefly retired in 2015, but soon realized full-time retirement was not for her. Her retirement lasted two weeks. She missed the work and the people so back to the hospital she went. Like so many others she found retirement was not for her and she had a profession that would welcome her back with open arms.

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44 years! It is a big number. I keep thinking of that as we talk, 44 years and still going strong, doing what she loves. Change is inevitable and we talk about what changes she has seen over those 44 years. “The first big change was when we moved from the old hospital to this place. The atmosphere changed with the move, but it had to, the medical field was changing rapidly." I notice that as we chat, her looks back are not nostalgic, just reflective. Sally is still very much tuned into the present day as she must be. She talks briefly about how Dr.’s Chow and Genge mentored her as she developed her career. “They taught me so much, especially that you stay until the patient is cared for."

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44 years, (there is that number again), must have created many highs and lows, I ask? “Yes,” she says without isolating any particular event. "Being from the area, I pretty much knew everyone. That was both good and bad. Different times we were able to save someone. The feeling is indescribable. Lots of people would be admitted very nervous or maybe scared and seeing me or someone they knew made them more relaxed. Of course, the opposite is true, it was so hard to watch someone you knew for many years slip away but that is life. It is not always easy but you do it because you have to! You can't pass the ball off to someone else in nursing. On a personal note, I have always felt nurses are the backbone of the health system, which is a calling much like GP's or surgeons. If nursing is not for you, you won't last long. It is not a profession that tolerates coasting. But I digress. I never regretted a day in 44 years,” Sally remarks. What a testimony to a life well lived!

As we wind down we talk about how technology has changed her world and so many others. "Like so many other jobs, it has lessened the personal connection in some ways,” she reflects. I ask Sally if she could put into words what her philosophy has been that sustained her all these years. She says simply "I try to treat people the same way I would like to be treated!” As the saying goes, "words to live by." Going forward, Sally reflects what Dr. Genge said in an earlier interview, "When I see the day I cannot do the job anymore, I will retire. I am not there yet!"
In closing Sally says simply, "I hope I have made a difference."
I suspect she has.