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Being a nurse in the "Years of the Hunger"
The story of Amelia Ros, childcare nurse

María Martínez Pozo
Nursing. Hospital Universitario San Cecilio, Granada, Spain

Mailing Adress: Hospital Universitario San Cecilio, Unidad de Obstetricia, 7ª planta. Avda Madrid s/n, 18012 Granada, España

Manuscript received by 16.03.04
Manuscript accepted by 25.03.2004

Index de Enfermería [Index Enferm] 2004; 47:54-58 (original version in Spanish, printed issue)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Martínez Pozo M. Being a nurse in the "Years of the Hunger" . The story of Amelia Ros, childcare nurse. Index de Enfermería [Index Enferm] (digital edition) 2004; 47. In </index-enfermeria/47revista/47e54-58.php> Consulted

 

 

 

Abstract

Amelia Ros, a children's nurse, gives us the opportunity of getting to know through her biographic story the recent nurse's history, the one that can be remembered through the people that lived it. We are talking about the nursing in the Spanish post civil war. Our informant guides us through an expression of the care profession that wouldn't make sense if we don't locate it in the context where it took place. For that reason, she emphasizes the core values of the profession, how being a nurse was a vocation, it was to accomplish a duty, and how giving care was considered as something sacred. The fields in which she acted are also described. At those times nurses considered that sanitary and social services were linked, it was something indivisible due to the economic and social context of Spain in the forties (the hunger years, as she describes it). With her story I would like to acknowledge nurses of those times that faced so many difficulties and that served to advance in the women and nurse history thanks to their jobs and her personal work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

I wanted to do this interview to Amelia for a long time. She worked as a nurse from 1936 until 1986. She is a woman of a great intelligence and intuition, strong social skills and good person. She was brave enough to break the social influences of her time and be loyal to herself, her values and convictions. She was a nurse that prioritized people at work.

Amelia Ros Martin was born in Granada in 1916. She worked during forty years as a childcare nurse. During 25 years she was responsible for the Center of Childrens Diet (Centro de Alimentacion Infantil), located according to her in Reals street, close to Saint Ildefonso church, in front of the Royal Hospital (Hospital Real). It was a big house that occupied the entired block. She was in charge of a great number of staff: doctors, nurses, assistants and porters. They assisted to over a hundred pregnant women and a hundred children, providing then food and medical care.

She used to organize and manage the patients, the personal and the resources of the center: two big warehouses that stored medicaments and food respectively. She would personally supervise the food warehouse daily "everday before giving out the milk I used to check the milk with on the light to see if it was watered-down. It was a big responsibility.". I found it very interesting how in this center nurses not only responsible of providing medical assistance to the patients, but also social one: they would feed the mothers and their children because, as she said, "those were bad days, worst than today; it was the time after the war and people were hungry"; "we tried to take care of the children before it would be born, feeding the mother and taking care of her".

After that time, she worked during fifteen years in a kindergarden being responsible for the medical assistance of children without finantical resources in the are of the Poligono of Almanjayar. At the same time she was in charge of the health care of the refuges Bermudez de Castro and Maria Auxiliadora. During her last years as a nurse, she worked as director of a social dinning hall for old people in the Albaicin. There she was in charge of the management, the medical and social assistance, psicological support and sometimes she even had to cook.

During the interview she expressed the values of the nursing work at the time, which were the reflection of the society she lived in. The family was a absolute value, and the father was the one who decided over the future of his kinds, maily if they were female, whose role was to stay at home and take care of the house work. " My sisters never worked because that was not common among women". It was not right for a woman to study and later work, since those were duties of the men.

Amelia fought hard against the resistance of her family. "What do you mean by 'going out to work?. My father claimed".  She used the excuse of the civil war and the need for professional staff at the "Blood Hospitals" to start working. Her father accepted "as a good Spaniard would do, because there was a big lack of personnel". The nation was also a very important value and people were willing to give it all to it, even your children.

She told me how she and the rest of female nurses that worked together with her felt that their job was their vocation, "there was something else more important than our salaries", "they -nurses- had no schedule, but there was never a complaint, never". Work was based on some fundamental pillards for Amelia: the sense of duty, sacrifice and wrok for the people. It was also a time when religion had a great influence in society and thus it influenced their work life.

In short; I think that the interview it's a great testimony of the evolution of the nursing work as a reflection of the passing of the time.

 

Biographic story

 

The motivations. Becoming a nurse was my own decision. If that would had been possible, I would had studied, I would had become a nurse, that was my vocation. Since I could not, because that was not possible, then I became a nurse against the will of my father. He did not want us to leave the house to work, I do not know. Then I became a nurse, and afterwards I specialized (in childcare nursing).

 

OPPOSITION OF THE FAMILY. Very bad, very bad because I felt like if I was crazy. Are you saying that you want to work out of the house? None of my sisters worked because that was not common. The only alternative was to become a school teacher, nothing such as doctor or female lawer. When I said at home " I am goin to do it", my father claimed "and why is that?". Good thing that at the end he led me do it. I told him that I really liked the job and its was my vocation. Then my father, who was the worst, the bravest, led me do it, of course, it was also the beginning of the War. That is, he led me do it because it was the beginning of the War and it was all a mess and there was few personel working in the hospitals of blood. There was a big confusion everywhere and at the end he had to accept my decision and also he had to be a good Spaniard and he said: "if they need my daughter there, she can go". And he led me go and I started all the paper work and I entered the university and he did not object again, he had to let me do it (laugh), he had not options my darling.

 

HER PROFESSIONAL TRAINING. I always liked it, that is why I say that it was all vocational. I belonged to the Red Cross, I worked in the Palas, and we had all sort of patients that came from the front, it was terrible. The war began and there was a great need of personel for the newly installed war hospitals. However, the people that worked were not qualifed staff, I mean, you would learn according to the courses you would receive. If there was I course, there I was. Another one, I also went. I told you, I have all the silly five or six diplomas I got from the courses. And also were getting some practical experience because we did not have any, we did not know anything about it. However, that was complety different from what we saw at the war hospitals and blood hospitals, because that we could see it. When I got to the university  I became a titled nurse, it was complicated, they were very demanding at school.

 

PRACTICAL CLASSES. The first surgery I witnessed and assisted was one where the amputated the leg of a civil guard, it was the first one (laugh), that is why I can not forget about it. I was , as someone could say, "bring me this, bring me that", because we did not know, we were not prepared, how could we know?. At the time there was also the possibility to do some practical work at different places. I remember that when I became a childcare nurse, we had not time, we work against the clock, it was crazy!. Entire nights studying and then I remember that Baldomero Bueno thought that I did not want to go to his practical classes because of, lets say, modesty. And then, one day in class he called me "Miss Ros", and I though that I had to go to the blackboard, I got nervous. "Stay where you are, I have to tell you that Baldomero Bueno as a man is rotten swine, but at work he is like a monk, you can now sit down" (laughs).

 

THE SPECIALTY. The we became nurses here, at the Faculty of Medicine. We had to stay there for two years to become nurses, and once we had a university title, you could have an speciality. At the time there was not childcare speciality in Granada, only in Madrid and Seville. I told my father and he said that I could not go, but just by chance that year the opened here in Granada the Childcare Nursing School. I went there and I took a exam because there could only be accepted ten doctors, ten midwifes and ten nurses. I applied for it and went there and became a childcare nurse, because if I did not have the title I couldn't hold the position I had.

 

AS A MANAGER. In order to be director of the Center of Childrens Diet, that was the name, you had to be a childcare nurse, and I was not, therefore I had to go to Childcare Nursing School. Then they gave the job, ill tell you how they gave it to me: I knew very well a lady that was working in the Regional Office and I she called me and asked me "there is going to be a position in the office of the Center, why don't you apply for it?". I applied for it and I was accepted, and then I went there to work.

However, that job made me cry very much, and I will tell you why: first of all, I had never worked before and second, I had a terrible amount of staff. In order to take care of the house, the people and all that mess, there were five doctors, seven nurses, three visiting nurses as well as another nurse in the warehouse. Downstairs in the warehouse there were at least six more people, and I was the only one in charge of all them. And there were also two porters and a cook in the kitchen, three assistants; and I was the only responsible for all of them and that was too much, I could not do it, and I asked my self "I am going to be able to handle this?". At that time I was also very young and the situation would stress me out and that is why I cried a lot because of the circumstances around and I used to say "lets see, lets see if I can do it". That was how I started there, you can imagine.

 

THE CENTER OF CHILDREN'S DIET. The house was in Real street, in front of Saint Ildefonso; was not there a house on the corner? My office faced the Royal Hospital, I had a balcony that would surround the entired house, it was a very big building. The house had three patios, it was a massive house. People were not there always but only to visit the doctor or to pick up the food.  Only mothers would eat in the house and only for luch; they would pick up the food for their children, who would eat it at home. We gave porridge to the children according to their ages and also cow milk. For the children older that one we had cookies, sugar and flowr, all this was storedged in the warehouses, where I told you that there were people in charged of making sure that there was food prepared for all the children. In case a doctor had prescribed an special diet for the mother, we would also provide her special food.

It was called Center of Childrens Diet but we also had as I told you pregnant women, in order to take care of the baby before even being born, so that the baby would come healthy. We had a hundred pregnant women and a hundred of babys, and one gynecologist who would periodically check if everything was going well. Because of the difficult times we were in, we had to provide food for all these hundred women. Once the baby was born and until the one year of age, we covered all the expenses. From that point and until the three years old, we also provided health care and some food. Medicines were also available for the children.

Once the baby was born there was a body of visiting nurses that were in charge of visiting the houses of the children. I must still have some, because these nurses would make a croquis of the house of the children "such house is new, it has windows, a door and there.". They did them very well and then passed it to the doctor and the children doctor who would see the atmosphere in which the children lived. The babys were also weight periodically. There were those formularies and weight graphics that were the responsibility for only one nurse. Children were forced to visit the doctor periodically so that he could follow the children's evolution. There were also vaccination periods, and that was terrible. Those files would passed to the nurse responsible for food and for giving the injections.

There was another nurse only responsible for the medicines. Nothing was ever missing there, it was an amazing warehouse, like a pharmacy. Once the children had six years old, he passed on to the kindergarden, and that was different, because the kindergarten was the opposite of the Center of Childrens Diet.

 

THE DIRECT CONTACT. Look, I am going to tell you something. The way I organized my work was not mine, it was Gods hand on me, because me alone could have not done it, no, I could have not done it, honestly, that is why faith is so wonderful. I realized that it was Him, that God was helping me on this, because I was just crying all the time and I went like seven thousand times to talk to my bosses to resing because that job was too much for me. You can not image what it was like to deal with all these people, it was terrible. It was hard also to work on a place where such great amount of food had to be provided daily, where all that medications were supplied, where all that food had to be ready to feed two hundred people, where we had to feed all those small onces. Yes, it was terrible, terrible, mainly the work with the staff, organizing them and the work between them, that was terrible as well.

 

THE ILLNESS OF THE CHILDREN. Diphtheria. Then the doctor saw the children and he said " this children will be blind". This will be a blind children. My Good, that was terrible!. And he said "its going to be partly your responsibility because if the children follows the treatment that I diagnose him, he could fight the illness". You know that diphtheria is something like a white cream on your eyes, something weird. Anyway, we had to go down to his house, which was down the ill of Saint Ildelfonso, three or four times a day to cure his eyes. And the children got better because God wanted to and thanks to the medication prescribed by the doctor. I remember seeing the children with that white cream over his eyes, and we had to remove that cream and apply the medication that the doctor prescribed him. And the children got better thanks to God and stories like this one I saw many, sometimes the children would get better, sometimes not. And I remember that one mother that came with her daughter, she had her hair combed and walked very straight. And the mother told me "look, look how my daughter looks like". And I looked at the kid and she looked like if she had measles. And when she passed to see the doctor, Mr. Juan told me:"Have you got?", because at that time we had to use syringes more than once and therefore we always had to have boiling water ready. And I said "Yes" and he said "We have to inject her right away because she is very sick". "What does she have? Internal bleeding?". But the girld died when we were injecting her, that I can not forget, it was terrible. That is why I say that in my job there were many things that compensated our efforts because you could see that God pay off your work by saving the person. But some other times it was like a test because you had tried to save a life and you could not. And all that I remember, I could tell you many stories, many. Then I moved to the job in the kindergarten and that job was a totally different story.

 

RESPONSIBILITY AT THE WORK PLACE. I have very good memories of the nurses that worked with me because for them work had not a fixed schedule and we worked many hours. Many times I told the visiting nurses "daughters of souls", because they had fisnished at that or that other time. No one thought of the time, and when the vaccination period would came they would say "we had five or four hours" and there was only time for working, nothing else, that was the first and most important thing for us. And we worked enthusiastically, and when we finished we were happy with our work. I mean, people worked because they needed the money, but also they worked because they liked what they did, the paycheck was not so important, but your work. I remember many good thing of my staff, that is the truth, I never told them that they had to leave, never until it was all done, they always stayed until we had finished with everything that had to be done, they were like slaves. That house needed four times the people that worked there, but since we did not have that staff, we had to work hard and people never complained, there was something else more important that the paycheck.

 

KINDERGARTEN. Appart from being in the kindergarten I was responsible for taking care of the sick children and therefore, I had to take them to the eye specialist, the radiologist. I also had to write a report about every children. So as you can see I was not only at the kindergarten, but I had to leave every morning, Holy and Blessed!, on the car I was provided. And I had to go with three or four children to different places and I had to write a report on them. I never lacked something to do. There I also had two auxiliaries and they helped me with the food of the kids and to weight them, to watch them during the breaks and during napping time, because there kid would also sleep.

 

INCIDENTS. These children were also interesting. I remember that one day a children came and told me: "Miss, miss, I have swallowed a coin". "Did you swallow a coin? Where is the coin?". "here" and he would point at his throat. "The coin is already in your stomach, do not worry about it" I told him. I ckept on watching him, just in case, and during lunch time he was able to eat without problems, but it was possible for him to eat because with each spoon the coin would flip and the food would go through. I thought "this kid wants to drive me crazy, he does not have anything on his troat, nothing at all". Then the children went out on the playground and I could see how the kid was dribbling. And I did not like that. "what's the matter?" I asked him. "nothing Miss, only that I still have the coin on my troat"". So then I took the kid to the hospital. "listen, this kid has swallowed a coin, he could eat but .". Then the doctor arrived and he confirmed that there was a coin on the kid's throat and said that they had to do a traqueotomy to the kid in order to get the coin out of his throat. I though I was going to die and I prayed to the Virgin "Holy Virgin, have mercy of him because this is something really serious".

The specialist arrived and he got the coin with twicers. I rembember that the doctors that were there started making jokes: "We have to drew lots for this coin because is a lucky coin". I had a really hard time, really, because I was wondeing what it was going to be of that guy. He was saying "Miss, miss, I have a coin here in my throat" [laughs].

 

WITH THE ELDER PEOPLE. There are so many things to talk about, so many. When I started getting old they sent me to take care of those that are like children, with old people. Thus, I worked with old people during eight years. They were similar to the kids, actually some people say that old people are like children, that we become children again. Sometimes I had to feed them like I had done with the kids. After that job I retired and I started enjoying my retirement.

 

RETIREMENT. I worked for forty or more years. That is why when I retired they wanted to give me the work medal and I remember that the Delegate was saying: "but what are you saying?". "no one has to give me a work medal. The only thing I have done was to do what I had to do, I have not done anything special, but what it was my responsibility". And then that Delegate left because I had not accepted that medal. And I have to say that on those forty years of work I never missed a day, never. And the Delegate sayed [laughs]" this is the only file without a single missed day I have ever seen"/

I broke my arm when I felt on the warehouse. I have broken my arm, what a pitty!. But what could we do about it, and with my arm in a sling I went to work because with my other harm I could still type on the typing machine. And there were many reasons for me to miss work but, I do not know, I really found my job interesting. As I said before, my job was so interesting the the paycheck was not so important. And this feeling is very important when you work and it does not mean that the person is stupid because of taking work so serious. I see it as a very important thing, and I cant talk about it because I saw my staff, and they were a hundred percent hard workers. Those visiting nurses that went to the houses could realize the problems of the families, what happened there and all that took them long, but they never complainded about that.

 

VOCATION. I have been absolutively happy with my job, because it was my vocation. I like to say that, like prists, doctors have to be vocational, they must like their job and feel satisfy of they have done. In my case it was all vocational. I was very happy at work because of what I told you before. If I had been free I would have been very happy, the only problem was that I had many responsibilities that tied me strong and that was something that I could never swallow, that was a punishment of God.

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