Age 40 to 50

If you are near the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. Anonymous.

My duty at Barbers Point was demanding with a patient load of at least 300 per day. Navy Physicians numbered about 10 to 12.  Navy Nurses 3, Civilian nurses 2, a large Corpsman staff and 3 or 4 Volunteers per day. During this period of time all medical records were changed from the alphabetical filing system to using SS. Numbers. A difficult task which took a few months to accomplish.  Mostly things went very well as everyone worked as a team. “Thank you Snoopy”.  As luck would have it, I became ill with pneumonia on a Sunday, with a Fever of 105 degrees. I went to work and was immediately sent home. Not smart, but I returned to work on Wednesday, only to be chastised by my corpsmen staff asking me if I didn’t think they could handle things. I hung my head in shame. Of course I knew they were all very capable.  They sent me home and made me promise I would not return until I had recovered.

As our daily activities went on, one day the crash bell rang and rang and rang. Yes indeed something very big. A Braniff 747 inbound from Japan, loaded with passengers was not able to deploy its landing gear. Medical personnel from every medical facility on the island headed for Honolulu International Airport.  The landing flight pattern was directly over Barbers Point. We all ran outside, including patients, to watch as the plane, escorted by two Air force jets from Hickam Air Force Base flew overhead. The runway had been foamed for a belly landing.  Just in time the landing gear came down, however they could not land on a runway that had been foamed, so it was full throttle ahead to climb up, do a turn around and land on a different runway safely. Talk about an adrenalin rush. Yikes!

Collateral duties included escorting the Director of the Nurse Corps to Midway Island as well as being sent there for 3 days on TAD. I enjoyed Midway Island and found the “Gooney” birds fascinating.  I purchased a book “The Albatross of Midway Island” to learn more about these interesting birds.

On the home front, I hosted many houseguests from the mainland, as well as a dinner party at least twice a month and attending functions given by other members of our military family.

My husband retired from the Marine Corps in April 1973. He studied Real Estate and did that following retirement. One person he brought home for dinner was a great gal whose name is Dianne Uyehara.  We still remain friends and you can find her registered under Community Directory. Dianne became part of our family. She is a fun and delightful person and I treasure her friendship. Dianne has the true Hawaiian spirit and would do anything possible for you when needed.

Another interesting journey was a trip to Alaska with VP 1. One of the squadrons based at Barbers Point. My husband thought I was going to jump out of the plane when they started giving us ditching instructions. He said, I’ve never seen you look so frightened.

It was an interesting ride to say the least. Touch and goes at Adak, then finally a landing. We flew from there to an Air Force base, where we spent the night. The following morning while preparing for take off, we had engine trouble. I’m beginning to wonder why I was dumb enough to go on this “free trip” to Alaska. Problem fixed and I assumed the pilot and other crewmembers were likely not willing to fly a plane if they thought it wasn’t safe. Did I really have a choice? Certainly I couldn’t stay there and the Exec. of the Squadron was also on the plane. Our destination was Kodiak, Alaska. Here I was introduced to the Alaskan mosquitoes. Good grief. I had no idea the Lord made such huge mosquitoes. It was a fun and interesting place to visit and best of all, I returned with 100 pounds of King Crab legs in the belly of the plane. Price $1.00 per pound.  We flew directly back from Adak to Barbers Point to complete my time and prepare for retirement. I retired on 1 October 1974.

We had considered remaining in Hawaii, however my allergies were so severe, it was suggested I move away from the Islands, as it was not possible to desensitize me with allergy injections.  We relocated to Tucson, AZ and I enjoyed instant health, totally free of allergies. While living in Arizona, I worked at an Alcohol and Drug detoxification center part time, as well as a surgical ward part time. My marriage became problematic so I divorced and moved to Orange County. I secured a job under the recommendations of a friend and retired Navy Nurse.  I was hired by an over the phone interview. My duties as team leader on a surgical ward lasted about 2 weeks when I was called into the Nursing Office and offered the job as Supervisor of Central Supply. When I asked how long I had to consider it she said “five minutes”. My answer was, Yes, I’ll take the job.

Hesitation has never been a part of my life. I instantly saw this as advancement and the trust of the Nursing Office that I was capable of dealing with this task.

This was likely the most interesting place of employment in my entire professional life.

The hospital was Physician owned and although it did take good care of patients, other things puzzled me. On person on the staff was a mystery.  His title was hospital Chaplain.

In reality, I’m not really certain he was indeed a Chaplain, as he was the actual person that was (are you ready for this) “The Great Imposter”. His name was Fred DeMara. I must admit I shook my head in disbelief but all staff members insisted that indeed he was the one and same that was once the “Great Imposter”.

As for my job, it turned out to be a royal battle with the Engineer department. The head of which was a retired Naval Officer. I uncovered the fact that the Ethylene Gas sterilizer was not properly vented to the outside of the hospital. Guess who won?  Over looking situations that have not previously caused a problem is not how things should be handled. And who knows if a problem might not later be the cause of an illness from exposure.

As time went on, it seemed the hospital was about to fold, or something was not quite right with the situation, so I decided to move on. I applied for a job as a Head Nurse at a hospital in Placentia Linda. More trouble. The ward Secretary did not like me in any way shape or form. It seems she was running the ward and the previous head nurses were not functioning in their positions. Instead, they were leaving running the ward to the Ward Clerk as they were out on the ward doing patient care. Absolutely not the function of a charge/head nurse. In retaliation, she decided to undermine me. She would transfer orders and put the stat orders. (Stat meaning immediately if not sooner) at the bottom of my huge stack of orders to review and check off to determine if orders had been properly carried out as ordered. When I discovered this, I lost it. I immediately wrote a letter of resignation and presented it to the supervisor. No way, will I work with someone that is deceitful. The supervisor knowing how effective I was as a Charge Nurse made every attempt to persuade me to change my mind. I told her flatly no. She called a meeting between the three of us. Her, the Ward Clerk and yours truly. The ward clerk played the crying game and promised she would never do it again. I live by a motto. If you lie to me once I will never trust you again. As it was close to Christmas and many had plans I said I would stay for one month, instead of the traditional 2 weeks, to make sure that no one had to be negatively affected by my resignation. And so I left, not having a clue what was next in store for me job wise. Anyone that doesn’t think they have a guardian angel needs to listen to this story. I had presented my resume to a hospital that was located very close to where I lived. As I spent a couple of weeks looking at the want ads and trying to figure out my next move, I received a phone call from the Nurse recruiter that informed me the DON, would like to interview me for a job as Hospital Supervisor. I later found out, she had already fired 3 supervisors that were not capable of doing the job. This DON, was hell on wheels, and I love working for people like that. She actually had a sign behind her desk of a witch riding her broom. I loved it. I love tough people that have one goal in life. Do it right the first time. She later told me; after we became friends she hired me before I even walked through her door for an interview. It again was a troublesome position. It had been a physician owned hospital and the nurses all thought their jobs depended on doing anything they could do to protect the physicians, even if it was illegal. The first thing I uncovered was the fact that narcotics were being given past the 72-hour dead line. I instated a stop to that situation and of course was met with resistance. Quote “The doctors won’t like that”. Answer.” Do you think I care? Ladies it is a Federal Law and no one is taking my nursing license away from me because some doctor might not like a change that I have made.  Physicians aren’t stupid. They knew very well I was right and conformed without question. The nursing staff however was intent in getting rid of me. I was a threat. As it happened I had a request to return to the hospital in Anaheim to fill the position as Material Manager. I was pretty certain it might be a short-term position but I did not need to deal with any more back stabbing, so I moved on. About the time I thought I would again be looking for a job the DON, at Tustin called me and said, Carol, I have a job for you. I need someone to plan an implement a Diabetic teaching program. I said, Betty, I know nothing about Diabetes. She said, you will. If you take the job, I will send you to a 2-week teaching program in Minnesota. Minnesota in January for a California person. But we must do what is required to progress and be successful, especially if someone else thinks so highly of your capabilities. And so, I returned from yet another learning process and planned and developed the first Diabetic Teaching program at this hospital. Later at a Medical staff meeting a Cardiologist asked, “When would they get a Cardiac teaching program”. I said, Dr. Vangrow, I had no idea you wanted a cardiac teaching program. I will get right on it, immediately. Thus another teaching program to better the outcome of patients following discharge. I loved my job.

So stay tuned for more adventures as this brings me to the magic age of the big 50.

The way to have a better tomorrow is to start working on it today. Anonymous.