IN remembering one hundred years of in-house training, the Ballarat Base Hospital Trained Nurses League is releasing a book to publicise some of the facilities archival stories and learnings.<\/p>\n
Titled Who Taught the Nurses?<\/em>, the publication hopes to provide some insight into the experience of training nurses between the years of 1888 and 1988 and, for others, an opportunity to reminisce on the past.<\/p>\n The Ballarat Base Hospital Trained Nurses League treasurer and projects officer Trina Jones said due to COVID-19 restrictions, the group were disappointed that they were unable to launch the book at their yearly gathering.<\/p>\n \u201cSince 1929, the league has been having annual reunions since that date, except for this year which would have been a couple of weeks ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a way of keeping the nurses in contact and building some comradery.<\/p>\n \u201cThe motivator behind the book is to continue these connections and put more of a focus on these nurses and the others that actually educated the nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n Including never-before-seen photos of classes, events and faces, the book tells the story of how nurses were trained internally at the Base Hospital before it became a university course in 1988.<\/p>\n Having coordinated the production of the book, Ms Jones said she was grateful for not only this publication, but the existence of the league itself.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been in this role for the last 12 years and have had a bit of fun doing it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do get some funding from the Victorian Government, particularly in the public record office, they have various grants each year that has helped in the production.<\/p>\n \u201cThe league actually also donates money to the hospital annually, when we have the reunion, we give out a scholarship for nurses who want to pursue extra curriculum courses and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n At the start of the project, the league sent a call out for past trainees to submit stories and memories of their training, which many responded to and were eventually included in the final print.<\/p>\n In addition to these personal stories, Ms Jones said publication was made possible through the vision of one particularly passionate nurse trainer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe principal nurse educator at the hospital was Margaret Stevens and she set up the curriculum out at the university when the education moved out there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was the one that instigated this book to be produced and unfortunately, not too long after we started getting the book under way, she died tragically.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to finish it then for her because she was so passionate about education and the nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n