Nurse who treated the stars
Healthcare Assistant Nora Tageldin was rewarded for her kindness looking after patient Jeanie Traynor Maltby when the former nurse later returning with a signed copy of her autobiography.
“I enjoy chatting with patients and it was pleasure to look after Jeanie. She was full of stories about her time as a nurse including working at Northwick Park before I was even born.”
Jeanie’s book covers her time working as a staff nurse from 1950-1962.
“My first job was washing out bed pans and making beds,’ recalls the 90- year-old who began her career as a ‘fever nurse’ in Scotland earning the princely £6.15p a month.
“The remaining money went on the coffee shop, ballroom dancing, the cinema and black stockings.”
It followed a brief but ‘lonely existence twiddling her thumbs’ in an insurance office before a neighbour suggested nursing.
Jeanie, who now lives in Harrow, recalls a short no-nonsense interview with a matron who wore ‘a black dress, black stockings, black shoes and black hair.’
“Matron asked if I was in good health, observant and would put my heart and soul into the job. I found myself being measured up for a uniform half-an-hour later and told to report for work the next day.”
The fever ward treated infectious diseases like TB and Jeannie recalls one of her least favourite tasks was emptying the bedside sputum mugs which patients coughed into.
It was a strict regime. Single nurses had to live in the hospital grounds with lights out at 11pm. They had to ask for permission to go into town and anyone breaking the curfew faced matron the following morning.
Jeanie later moved from Scotland to London and ended working at the then new Northwick Park Hospital in the 1970s.
Her career included spells in the NHS, nursing homes and as an agency nurse looking after patients at home.
She met and treated many people including the Queen Mother, actress Julie Garland and comedian Tony Hancock as well as patients’ partners like author Daphne du Maurier and actor Richard Todd.
“I was very lucky to have such a fulfilling career and always treated my patients like they were members of my own family.
“I am still blessed with a good memory and often look back on those days with a smile on my face.”
From Dunfermline to London - memoirs of a staff nurse by Jeanie Traynor Maltby is available on Amazon.