Four women who graduated from the Palmerton School of Nursing, run by New Jersey Zinc Company at the time, came to the Palmerton Area Historical Society in October and talked about their nursing experience. They lived in the Nurses' Home on Columbia Avenue.

Evelyn Plechavy said when she attended the school (Class of 1946) she was told to bring a napkin ring. They were to eat in the nurses' home."We sat down and ate whatever was served," she said. They worked hard and were always hungry.Betty Steigerwalt said there were 232 graduates over the years. She said on night duty the dispensary was kept open and bats flew in and out.Mary Taschler said they would see this thing fly by. She got a mop and sprinkled it with ether. After the bat was cornered she kept it close to the ether until it went to sleep.The ether was kept in the hospital to remove adhesive tape.Jeanne Stemler said it was a three-year program with 12 students in a class. They spent three months in Philadelphia Children's Hospital and three months in a psychiatry ward run by Johns Hopkins Hospital.When a baby was being delivered overnight, the nurses were still expected to be on the floor in the morning when they had to clean up the delivery room.Steigerwalt said they squeezed blood from the placentas. Taschler said they put it into test tubes.Miss Brookmeyer would take them with her when she was doing visiting nurse duty. There were three-month shifts on the visiting nurse staff.After the war they would walk to the American Legion where one of them knew the doorman and they were allowed in even though they were not old enough, but they had to be back in the nurse's home by 10 p.m.The hospital auxiliary taught the young ladies how to set a table for proper table manners. They were determined to make ladies out of us, said Taschler.Steigerwalt said she and Charlie had to go to Allentown with an ambulance. It stopped."We tried to push it. The police brought us home," said Steigerwalt.There was a classroom in the hospital and one in the nurses' home. Teachers came from Johns Hopkins until Dr. Cope came to Palmerton. There were classes every morning.Plechavy said they had to learn how to make beds and wash the patients.There was one nurse to take care of 16 men. Taschler said she was so proud she was able to handle 16 men. There was a women's ward that held up to 16 women and a children's ward. In the afternoon it was time for baths and back rubs.No overnight surgery was scheduled. Steigerwalt said operating instruments were boiled and there were never as many infections as there are now.Steigerwalt said even if someone died overnight, the nurses still had to be in and ready to go at 7 a.m.Stemler said cooking was done on coal stoves in the basement, and the nurses had to carry meals upstairs. She said they all gained weight eating ice cream.She said in addition to their napkin ring they had to pay $110 for their uniform. They received $10 a month spending money. After six months the nurses earned their caps and bibs.They were responsible for sterilizing needles and putting sponges in the autoclave, which combines pressure with heat for sterilization. Jane Borbe said they had to scrub the bedpans clean enough so they could see their faces in them.They were asked if they each had their own room in the nurses' home. Some had to share a room with a second person.Steigerwalt said 7 to 9 p.m. was study time, and then they had free time from 9 to 10 p.m.She said they used the kitchen in what is now the elementary school (S.S. Palmer) for dietary courses. Taschler said there was three months of dietary training that included teaching kids to eat properly.There was polio in Philadelphia when Steigerwalt was working there. One boy was in an iron lung. Hot packs were used on the polio kids.Disturbed people in the psychiatry hospital were kept in large tubs of warm water to help calm them down when something upset them. The tubs had a plug that could be pulled to empty the tub immediately if the person was having problems.Electric shock and wrapping a person in cold sheets were used.Taschler said rheumatic fever was common and damaged a heart until penicillin was discovered. Now the fever is almost unknown.Janine Carazo said Stemler was there the night she was born.Taschler said she was her mother's nurse in the delivery room and she had her own daughter later the same year. Women stayed in bed for 10 to 13 days after delivery of a baby.Steigerwalt's Class of 1945 held its graduation in the Horsehead Inn.She said she worked at the hospital for 48 years. Taschler was there for 45 years and Plechavy for 15 years. Stemler did not remember.The Zinc Company ran the school from 1914 to 1951.