Lynn Grieveson - I Wear Many Hats:
https://the-lilypad.com/store/I-Wear-Many-Hats-Digital-Scrapbooking-Collection.html
Lynn Grieveson - Someone Like You:
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Someone-Like-You-Collection-Lynn-Grieveson.html
Candy Striper image from the internet.
Journaling reads:
I don’t recall who suggested it, whether it was friends from the neighborhood or classmates from St. Stan’s, but a group of us decided to volunteer as candy stripers. I could not have been more than sixteen years old, probably younger. Illinois Masonic Hospital on Wellington in Chicago comes to mind...
I found an excerpt referencing Candy Stripers from the hospital’s history found online. The program began in 1962: “A new teenage service group known as "Candy Stripers" was organized to serve as nurses helpers. Fifteen hours of concentrated instruction was given by Mr. Evelyn Loring and a minimum of 10 hours to each "Candy Striper." The girls assisted on the floors, in the Central Supply Department and the Admitting Office, as messengers, passing fruit juices and food trays, taking temperatures and helping to feed patients or entertain restless children. The girls were allowed to volunteer any number of hours, not to exceed seven in any one day.”
I remember taking public transportation to get there.
I remember shivering, walking from the bus to the hospital in the cold months.
I remember wearing those infamous cotton, pink and white striped, pinafores.
I remember having to attend classes.
I remember the nurse in charge of the program who never smiled.
I remember learning to miter sheet corners before the days of fitted sheets.
I remember emptying bedpans.
I remember delivering mail and flowers to the patients.
I remember hanging out with other candy stripers.
Probably because of my volunteer experience, I decided early on that the medical field was not for me. Ironically, my 45-year career was in the administrative end of a hospital system. To this day, I am not a fan of needles or blood.
