Director of care and resident share special bond
Monday June 13, 2011 -- Lisa Bailey

When Revera’s Heartwood director of care Brenda Johnston spotted new resident Elizabeth Padley’s alumni ring in 2009, she found a kindred spirit in a fellow graduate of the Kingston General Hospital School of Nursing.

That chance observation sparked conversations between the two women. And so when Padley could not attend her 75th graduation celebration this year, it was natural and fitting that the Revera Inc. home recognize this remarkable milestone.

Collaborating with the alumni association, Johnston and Padley’s daughter, Joan Regan, arranged for a ceremony at Heartwood April 8. Johnston presented Padley with a congratulatory letter, card and roses from the alumni association, as other residents watched. They later congratulated her and enjoyed a cake.

Regan says her mother was thrilled by the surprise.

“I think it meant everything. It was huge because this was the first time she was not able to attend (the alumni anniversary dinner),” Regan says.

It was especially touching when Johnston produced her nurse’s cap and cape for the event. Padley would’ve worn the same things after graduating in 1936.

“There was a tear in everybody’s eye, I think. And so I think Mom no longer missed going to the dinner, this was better. This was absolutely better,” Regan says.

She says the event brought back fond memories for her, too. Seeing the cape, for example, reminded her of her mother’s return to nursing when Regan was a teenager.

“She worked nights at Lachine General Hospital outside of Montreal and she needed something (to wear), and it was this cape,” Regan says.

She says the celebration at the home “will remain with me forever.”

The joy and recognition eased the pain of the realization that her mother could no longer attend her reunion, Regan says.

“It was very healing.”

Johnston says it was an honour to be able to recognize someone from her school and profession.

Heartwood staff, she says, strive to recognize residents’ achievements because it’s well deserved and something they would do if still living at home.

“It’s a very special time when you’re able to acknowledge what you’ve accomplished.”

Johnston attends alumni reunions every five years, noting it’s special to rekindle friendships forged with classmates she lived with for two years while training to become a nurse.

“You have history steeped in the school you graduated from,” she says.

In Padley’s time, nursing school students studied for three years before graduating.

Regan notes it was a very challenging thing for women to do then. Her mother told her that only half of the original “probies” or “probation nurses” as they were called, graduated from her class. A number dropped out after realizing how hard it was.

This sense of accomplishment is one reason why Padley always attended every reunion. There’s also the fact that her classmates grew to be like sisters because they lived and studied together for so long.