Alberta Association of Registered Nurses Museum and Archives

Alberta Association of Registered Nurses Museum and Archives

The Oral History Collection of the Alberta Association of Registered Nurses was built up through gifts, assigned student exercises (University of Alberta. Faculty of Nursing 550: History of Nursing) and by its own Oral History Program under the auspicies of the History of Nursing Professional Practice Group. The time span of the collected interviews ranges from WWII to 1996, as Winnie Shandro describes over 50 years of Public Health Nursing in Alberta. There is a wide variety in the facets of nursing service which are covered by in the collection: public health and military service as above, as well as mental health, obstetrics, operating room practice, inter-cultural nursing practice, administration, teaching in hospital schools of nursing and in the Faculties of Nursing at colleges and universities, and of major importance, activities which advanced the profession of nursing. The nurses describe their training and further education, their experiences in nursing practive, which took them, in some cases from Alberta to Texas, or Papua-New Guinea, or Taiwan. Changes in nursing experiences are noted, especially in the nurse/doctor relationsships in the operating rooms or in the wards. The mentors who assisted them throughout their careers are acknowledged.