About Ruth
Former nurse at RIE
Ruth trained in RIE from 1982 to 1985. During her studies, she worked in various wards in the surgical part of the hospital. She then completed her midwifery training and worked as a midwife in the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion.
In the photograph, Ruth is wearing a watch that she received from her relatives during her first year of training. She used the watch throughout her career, and it is still functioning to this day.
At RIE Ruth met her husband Ian, who was also training to become a nurse at the same time. Ian and Ruth captured their experiences of the hospital in their poems.
Hopes
Hopes and aspirations
Putting patients first
Nursing process – HOLISTIC
Activities of daily living
Fun and laughter, sadness too
Hospital at night – a very different environment to the daytime
Ward round with night nursing officer – all patient details memorised.
Ruth Burns
Written during the Recycling a Hospital poetry workshop
A Pelican
Whilst at school I knew what my career would be
To just be a nurse wouldn’t quite do it for me
A neighbour was a Pelican and inspired my vocation
To train at the ‘Royal’ was the only location
Having concluded my training then served for a year
I achieved Pelican status my ambition set clear
A nursing career beckoned as a member of the ‘League’
A professional group of nurses, certainly not a clique
In those early days as a student, I lived on site
Meaning the old Royal was home, for many a night
Living in the ‘Flo home’ with colleagues and friends
Was a wonderful experience through to the end
The hospital campus provided me with many highlights
From working experiences to the beautiful sights
I met my husband at the nursing college on Chalmers Street
And at Simpson’s my daughters delivered, for us both to greet
Being a Pelican and a nurse with the old Royal in mind
My comparisons of past times are not always that kind
Of course, as I reflect on the changes in the intervening years
I feel the loss of the Pelican is sad, for modern careers
Ian Burns
