<\/p>\n
Everyone thinks you get into it because of a calling or something. It varies, people choose it for different reasons. I thought it was one of the best professions, one that\u2019d always give you a job, you know? You were guaranteed work after graduation. My father actually suggested I go to nursing school, because being a nurse is a really good and necessary job. He\u2019d been in a sanatorium and he really liked what they did there (laughs). <\/em>But of course not all of us would end up working in a sanatorium, right? Still, it was very much needed. You helped patients, you know, in all sorts of matters, situations, illnesses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I worked in the hospital in the operating theatre, I was a scrub nurse, you know. Preparing things, cleaning up, handing instruments during the procedure, all that. Working with patients came afterwards. I spent almost 14 years working in the operating theatre. At that time, you had to go in for caesarean sections, for gynaecological procedures. Surgeons did the gynaecological operations together with the gynaecologists, and on top of that there were orthopaedic procedures as well. Now they\u2019re not allowed to do that, the orthopaedic surgeons have to do it. Back then the surgeons did everything. The scrub nurses had to assist in the gynaecological procedures too, which meant going to the other block, you know. You\u2019d be running up and down the stairs, day or night, to the gynae theatre and then back to the surgical one. And on top of that you had to do dressings and deal with the surgical outpatients as well. They don\u2019t have that now; back then you had to do everything. The methods of treatment were different, and there were different patients too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some appreciated our work, and others\u2026 well, some of the older ones thought they were entitled to everything. And some patients had a bad opinion of healthcare in general, of nurses\u2019 work. I won\u2019t even go into that (laughs)<\/em>. Some spoke rather badly. And of course nurses were different too. One was, you know, better with patients, and others were a bit snappy and shouted a bit. Well, maybe not shouted, but\u2026 A nurse had to do everything the doctor told her to do, you know. Once a gynaecologist actually hid an instrument from me. He wanted to check if I\u2019d counted all of them. He pinned it to the sheet under the operating table. And we searched and searched, it was some sort of night-time procedure, probably a caesarean. And he wanted to know if we\u2019d find it or not.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was much better at the beginning. Sometimes when they brought in lots of people from accidents \u2013 sometimes children \u2013 those I felt most sorry for. Things like burns, there were a lot of such injuries. After New Year\u2019s Eve, for example, hands all cut up \u2013 there were lots of such cases. Later those patients would come for dressings. Everything was in the outpatient clinic. First it was the surgical outpatients, then it was moved to the main clinic\u2026 all the outpatients came to the surgical clinic, you know. And the children \u2013 poor things.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With the doctors it depended what sort of doctor it was. One was decent and respected you, another was snappy and would shout at you or whatever. But generally we got along with them somehow. Not all of them respected us, though. Some of the younger doctors \u2013 and you had to say \u2018sir, doctor\u2019, and he\u2019d call you by your first name, being years younger than me. Not all of them, but\u2026 Female nurses have a better approach to patients. Most of them anyway. Many nurses are really in it because of a calling. Men, well, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re made for it (laughs)<\/em>. Women are better because they\u2019re more caring, and men generally aren\u2019t. They\u2019re more for helping physically, like lifting a patient, turning them over, you know. And a nurse has to wash them, change them, you know, if someone\u2019s bedridden. It\u2019s necessary work, and there are fewer and fewer nurses now, and fewer schools that train them. There are no nursing secondary schools anymore. You did what you could, really \u2013 you talked to them, comforted them a bit. Sometimes you could give them something, give a child a bandage, or a sterile syringe, you know, in wrapping. We didn\u2019t really think about ourselves, not at all. You thought about the patients, not about yourself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sometimes they came in shouting. Sometimes they came in drunk \u2013 oh, they\u2019d shout and complain, in the clinic as well, something was always not to their liking, or the queue, or someone went in first and someone later \u2013 and there were the outbursts, you know. And sometimes you had to, you know, slip someone in just for a dressing so the doctor wouldn\u2019t notice. And then you\u2019d get it from both sides \u2013 from the doctor and from the patient \u2013 because the doctor would start shouting, you know. What were we doing, why had we taken someone earlier, that sort of thing. Well, you could take them quickly for a dressing, but it wasn\u2019t up to us, the doctor had to decide, not the nurse. And you couldn\u2019t say a word to the doctor; then after a moment everything calmed down. The doctor let it go once he saw you weren\u2019t answering back (laughs)<\/em>, because, you know, he was in the wrong. And then later he\u2019d need something, and you know, the nurse was needed again for something. For the next task he should\u2019ve been doing, but actually we were the ones doing it. Like putting on plaster casts \u2013 that should\u2019ve been done by the doctor, but it was us, the nurses, who did it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Someone has to go into nursing, because the population is ageing, you know. There are more and more elderly people, and the young ones don\u2019t want to go into these schools because they know what it means. Patients react differently, you know, and\u2026 well, some were grateful, they said thank you, sometimes someone brought coffee or chocolates (laughs)<\/em>. Some patients are pleased when pretty, young, slim girls come in. They feel better straight away and recover faster (laughs)<\/em>.\u00a0 And if she smiles, chats a bit, makes a joke \u2013 well, that happens too. I really did love my job.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n My name is Krystyna Po\u0142om, I\u2019m 94. I spent 11 years working in Kocborowo, in Starogard, and 31 years in Srebrzysko [locations of 3 mental hospitals]<\/em>. What broke my heart most was when they brought in 10-, 12-, 15-year-olds. I took it very hard, even though they weren\u2019t my own children, but in this job you\u2019re not supposed to cry\u2026 Yet cry I did, not just me \u2013 the doctors did too. You have to be tough, you have to care for the patients. A patient mustn\u2019t see you sad. Because they\u2026 If the carer, the sister, the nurse is sad, crying, with tears running down her face\u2026 What\u2019s going on? They immediately start asking.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I ran the children\u2019s ward. It\u2019s terrible. You need to know a bit of psychology to know how to act. You have to remember what you said yesterday so you can repeat it today. And you\u2019ll need to repeat it the next day or the day after, because the patient isn\u2019t stupid. Men don\u2019t like hard work. And this is a very tough job. It was an Englishwoman who brought the nursing profession into the service of humanity \u2013 because before that it was simply a service. You worked 24 hours a day, you slept alongside the patients. That\u2019s how it was after the war, in psychiatry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019d come to work, and first of all you had to set out the medicines. Measure temperature, blood pressure \u2013 that was important. And hand out the food. After breakfast, give the medication. And then procedures \u2013 dressings, massages, going to X-ray, doing pneumoperitonea or forensic examinations, because it was also a ward with patients accused of crimes. Or you were waiting for a professor\u2019s visit, for a ward round.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A patient jumped out of the fourth floor and killed himself \u2013 that happened to my colleague from on another ward. There were three of us who wanted to leave after that. And we had good jobs, very good jobs. But, you know, the doctors called us in, the director explained, pleaded with us. And so we stayed. I think I went to the director 5 times after that event, to talk, because he didn\u2019t want me to leave. \u2018Where will you go? Where will you earn more? Where will you have it better? Who will respect you like we do?\u2019 I was afraid \u2013 we worked on the fourth floor, and we didn\u2019t have bars. Hospitals always used to have bars on the windows. And then they made it the English way, with no bars. They\u2019ve put them back since.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They didn\u2019t only listen, they asked questions, talked to us. Invited us into the office, whether they were writing up the patients\u2019 medical history, notes from treatment or something. It wasn\u2019t just me, it was the same for all the nurses. We had respect, every one of us, even towards the ward nurses. We\u2019d even call the ward nurse for coffee if we were having coffee with the doctors. You know, so as not to humiliate them that we sit separately, you sit separately. No, no, no. In the years I worked, it was still like after the war \u2013 everyone was respected.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I ran insulin coma therapy. And when my patient came to see me after 16 years, that was my greatest joy \u2013 that my work had made a difference for 16 years. Because some patients came back after 6 months. Some, you know, their illness returned, and they came back again. They just weren\u2019t taking their medication.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you think we didn\u2019t cry when Krzysiu jumped from a train near Wroc\u0142aw and killed himself? He was 28, an engineer. Our patient \u2013 handsome, beautiful young man. He talked to me, called me. He gave me a book, and said, \u2018Sister, I\u2019m riding the tram, and out of nowhere I snap\u2013 I shout, I tug at people. Do you think I\u2019m not a human being? I know exactly what\u2019s happening to me\u2019. But he couldn\u2019t control it. Patients would sometimes visit me, bring presents, flowers. Yes, I really liked my job. Oh yes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They taught us at school that before opening the door you had to tell yourself: \u2018Keep your lips sealed and don\u2019t say too much\u2019. It\u2019s psychiatry, you know. Let me tell you a story. Four militia officers brought in a patient. I was the one who opened the door. I had night duty. They took off his handcuffs and pushed him in. And the patient turns to me and says, \u2018Sister, we\u2019ll manage. Let those coppers go\u2019. That was the biggest incident in my career, because there were beatings and all sorts of things, you know. Their passions \u2013 tying them down, restraining them. You know what psychiatry was like. Some patients were restrained for weeks in straitjackets. When I worked in Kocborowo, there was a 15-year-old girl, she screamed that I had no education, no sense, didn\u2019t know what it meant to be young. And she bit me. I had the mark for about 20 years. You know, here, she bit me here on the breast. But apart from that, no \u2013 that was the only time in 40 years. The doctor phoned to say she was very wild, very loud, very excited, that it would be difficult. But there were two of us nurses, and four militia officers. And somehow we managed. She later became close to me, you know? A sort of friendship. That Ma\u0142gosia used to come to see me. She had a car, she\u2019d drive over.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To be honest, there was a kind of pressure. My dad wanted me to study law. I couldn\u2019t, there were too many of us to afford school. You had to go where they gave you a dormitory, food, and a job. I was honest, I was very honest, I worked very honestly. I say that about myself. I really was honest. I always knew that mental illness could affect anyone. Because it\u2019s not a disease of the heart, liver, lungs or anything like that. It\u2019s an illness of the mind. And they don\u2019t have proper medicine for it. Even today they don\u2019t know what causes schizophrenia. They just don\u2019t know. It was my choice. I realised that if they recruit you, they encourage you, explain, talk\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was tall and sturdy. I was about 168cm tall and weighed 73 kilos. I remember my job interview. All the psychiatric nurses \u2013 all of them were\u2026 well, I don\u2019t know now, after so many years \u2013 but back then they were all tall. As one patient said, \u2018A woman isn\u2019t supposed to be \u201chandsome\u201d, but you\u2019re all handsome\u2019. Tall, well-built. Whether Stasia, or me, or\u2026 all of us. Litkowie-Cimanowski, there were three poor things. They had conferences, training, meetings. They\u2019d meet and discuss. There were many patients with criminal charges. And what can I tell you \u2013 mentally ill people. I still have it to this day, you know. Mrs. Po\u0142om will tell you. \u2018The doctor won\u2019t run the ward for three days, but I can run it for two weeks\u2019. That\u2019s what I used to say, and that\u2019s how it was. They still repeat it today. \u2018Mrs. Po\u0142om said the doctor can\u2019t manage three days, but she can do two weeks without a doctor\u2019. Nurses leave behind all kinds of stories and memories. But no \u2013 above all, I had respect. They respected me, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll tell you. Whether it was Bystrzanowski, or anyone \u2013 Bukowski or not Bukowski. The doctors. Not to mention the women. Targo\u0144ska, to this very day \u2013 when I\u2019m at the Zegarskis now, she was still asking how I was, how things where, whether I needed anything. I said no, I have family, I don\u2019t need anything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I think so, yes. You explain to the family: another week, another two weeks, things are looking good, the treatment is going well. You know\u2026 I\u2019m not very good with talking like that. We gave them medications, explained how to administer them, how to care for their relatives at home for as long as possible. And never say \u2018you nutter\u2019 or \u2018you idiot\u2019 \u2013 above all, you must adjust to the patient psychologically. The family must be very, very careful with that at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Audio recording transcript \u2013 Teresa Jaros\u0142awiec, nurse Everyone thinks you get into it because of a calling or something. It varies, people choose it for different reasons. I thought it was one of the best professions, one that\u2019d always<\/p>\nAudio recording transcript \u2013 Krystyna Po\u0142om, nurse<\/h3>\n