Year: 2005
Location: Calgary
Profile: Noreen Olmstead was born and raised in Saskatoon where she trained as a nurse at University Hospital in 1955. She practiced nursing over a seven year period, including holding the position of assistant head nurse on a medical ward. She recalls that maternity patients at the time remained in hospital for at least five days after giving birth while post-op surgical patients were hospitalized for at least a week or two after surgery. Nurses had more time to deal with patients’ psychological needs than would later become the case. Despite their subservient positions to physicians, the notion that professionals should not unionize limited their wages and deprived them of formal grievance procedures. Female nurses earned far less than male nurses for performing the same work. The same discrimination applied in the awarding of far larger salaries to male orderlies than female nurses’ aides. Olmstead recalls the nightmarish experience of using iron lungs to treat polio patients. Olmstead took a break from nursing during her first pregnancy. The family moved to Seattle afterwards, and she chose to let her registration lapse. Her own experience demonstrated that Canadian medicare is far less costly to users than American private healthcare.
Keywords: Gender discrimination in healthcare pay; Maternity patients; Nursing school; Polio treatment; Professionalism and unionism; Recycling supplies; Saskatchewan before Medicare; Surgical wait times; US versus Canadian healthcare.
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See also: United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta