Looking Back- Living my dream in paradise
I have mentioned that I had wanted to be a nurse since I was a small child. Well maybe not so much small as just young.
I married in 1963, to a military man, and we were sent to Guam. ”Guam!” ”Where is Guam?” So much for remembering my history lessons. Out came the old Funk and Wagner encyclopedias. There in the middle of miles of blue water was this little spot that was the island. The island is thirty miles long and eight miles wide. How am I going to get up to speed in our new car I asked? My husband reminded me that he would be a member of the Shore Patrol, and it would look bad if he had to arrest me for speeding. LOL There went my need for speed.
After a few days rest, I went looking for a job. There were two hospitals on the island. The Naval hospital which had their own nurses and the Guam Memorial hospital, which was the civilian hospital. Off I went. What I found was this sparkling white building set on a hill overlooking the vivid blue of Tumon Bay. Once hired, I began to work among and cared for many people who looked liked me but spoke a variety of languages.
The hospital was run like hospitals in the states, but I had to prove myself as to how I would fit in. Well I started to learn the languages and to eat the food in the Chamorro way (with your finger). Soon I was accepted. My family and I were soon swept up in the favorite pastime of Guam, fiestas.
I was hired to work on the Medical - Surgical floor. I then worked on the Tuberculosis unit as an Assistant Head Nurse. I found a patient who had been there for years. On my first day I went into one of the rooms. It was supposed to hold two beds but where one bed should have been there was a casket. The patient had made it because he knew he was never going to leave the hospital alive. Not only did this patient have TB, he also had Lou Gherigs disease. I had to promise and vow that nothing would happen to his beloved casket. I was then able to move it to a storage area of the hospital. Tuberculosis ran rampant over the island so we were never short of patients. I had learned the language. Ate the same food, and tried to respect their customs.
I noticed some customs that interested me. A pregnant women could not come in contact with a ghost on a certain holiday. I also learned never ask why patients were ostracizingh a brother and sister. After digging around, I found out that this couples lived as man and wife during the Japnese occupation even though they were brother and sister. I started to make it my business to sit and talk with them each day. Were there ever warm and fuzzy feelings between those patients and the brother and sister? No! But they were on longer parrahias.
I was later promoted to head nurse of the newly opened Psychiatric unit. I will save that for later but I will say I was in one of the most beautiful settings a person could ever want and Iwas working where I felt I was making a difference.