Like mother, like daughter

Next time you are in the hospital at the D- Wing entrance look over at the display of nursing uniforms and some of the equipment they used in the past. There, on the second shelf, is a photograph of a young nursing student holding hands with a skeleton. The woman posing in the photograph is Doris Brown- a young nursing student in the Brantford General Hospital School of Nursing. Study the photograph closely. Do you see any resemblance to a woman at the nearby patient registration desk?

“I think it is cute to see Mom’s picture as a nurse and now her daughter also works in healthcare,” Trina Brown, said recently. “My Dad brought it to my attention. I walked past it a thousand times and never realized it was Mom in the photograph. It is the picture from her nursing yearbook.”

Doris was a member of the Class of 1963. “There were 65 that completed our studies that year,” she said. “It was a three- year course rotating between 3-month stints in the class followed by 3-months on the wards. We didn’t have long periods of time off at Christmas or during the summer. Miss Plumstead was the director nursing, Eileen Minty was the director education, Fran Poulton was in the class, and the list goes on and on.”

Upon graduation as a registered nurse Doris began her career at the BGH. But after 2-years she was lured away by Dr. R. W. Farley to be the nurse at this office.

“Dr. Farley was such a wonderful man,” Doris said. “He still is! I learned a lot from him. It was the best of times in those days. You didn’t have to wait 6- months to see a specialist and patients only came in to the office if they were truly ill.” Doris continued, “It was different in those days. Other than a small surgery I was off ill for perhaps only 5 or 10 days.”

Doris worked for Dr. Farley for 35- years. “I used to tell our patients that when the furniture falls apart I’d go, too. When Dr. Farley retired I felt it was time for me to retire as well.”

Doris was the first in her family to work in medicine; however, both her children entered the field. Son, Eric, works at a medical warehouse and his wife, Sarah, is a registered nurse. Her daughter Trina, started with the Brantford General Hospital 7- years ago after Doris encouraged her to take the medical terminology course the hospital was offering.

“I had been working at a company in St. George and even before I completed the course I was working part time at the hospital,” Trina says. “I worked 3- years at switchboard and now I am in patient registration splitting my time between the orthopaedic fracture clinic and cardiac.” 

As Doris looks back at her career she knows she picked wisely. “Medicine was very good to me. I would still enter nursing today. Brantford General is a state-of-the-art hospital and people still need to be helped. I am still a caregiver at heart.”   

Gary Chalk is senior executive director of public affairs & development for the Brant Community Healthcare System. Brantford General is a regional health centre providing primary, emergency and specialized services. The Willett, Paris, is a multi- service health centre providing urgent care, primary and community outreach programs.