A bird for a special bird

I spent 3 months working as a relief sister on a male orthopaedic ward in 1969 and this was a leaving present that I received from the men. Most of them had injuries as a result of car or motorbike accidents. In those days splinting and traction was used whilst bony injuries healed. This was a long process and the men sustaining fractures to the femur (thigh bone) were strung up on traction, in bed for 12 - 16 weeks. No rods, pins and plates in those days. Imagine the boredom without TV or mobile phones and only able to listen to radio on headphones. Stuck with strangers and minimal interaction with your family and friends.

For me managing a 24 bedded ward of 17 to 80+ yr olds, who were mostly well, was a challenge to say the least, especially as I was only in my 20’s. The youngsters were a handful and we had many escapades, mostly led by Ron, an 18yr old who had fallen off his motor bike.

There are three that come to mind, the first was the rubber snake in the washing bowl!!! I will say no more about that ...... I don’t like snakes!!! 

The second was the incident of the orange going through the window scattering glass onto the consultants cars parked at the front of the hospital three floors down. It was thrown by the lad in the bed across from Ron and Ron wasn’t able to catch it!!! He had the cheek to ask if someone would go down to retrieve it!!! No ! 

I was central to the third escapade. I was in the process of buying my first car, a second hand mini. We were all involved in this purchase, so many advisers, driving instructors, etc. They had been there and done it, so shared their expertise!!! 

I was in the ward office doing paperwork when I had a phone call from  ‘the garage that I was buying my car from’. The voice told me a tale about needing 4 new tyres at some silly cost. I recognised the voice, young Worcestershire accent, not the middle aged Welsh man, who sounded a bit like Tom Jones (but didn’t look or sing like him) who owned the garage that I was buying from.

I asked the caller to hold for a minute, sneaked up the ward and removed the telephone plug from the wall. In those days the phone was on a trolley with a long cable which was plugged into one of the few special sockets scattered around the ward.

Ron was partially hidden behind one of the bed curtains and was rather surprised when I appeared round the curtain and waved the plug in front of him. The rest of the men were aware of the scenario unfolding and thought it hilarious. One up to Sister !!! 

I was most surprised to receive this present on my final day on the ward. Most of the men hadn’t seen it properly, so I did a round to say thank you to each one individually. Ron was in the final bed and said ‘this is a bird for a very special bird’. He was sad to see me go. I was very touched and could have hugged him, but that would have been unprofessional. 

The men were very kind to me and without realising taught me so much about interpersonal and management skills with men of a variety of age groups. They welcomed Andrew (the baby from an earlier blip) into the family and enhanced his short life.

I’ve treasured this special little bird for 52 years.

A sad ending today. News of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. Many tributes have been made. I had the honour of accompanying R to St James Palace in the early 1990’s to be presented with her DofE gold award by Prince Philip. It was wonderful to see him interacting with the youngsters. To see and hear how this award programme has inspired youngsters to face challenges in life.