Nurse's Lamp, Clinic Shoes and Cap, ca. 1956-1959
P20090023004, P20090023012, P20090023015

These nursing school objects were acquired by Pat Sassa (nee Okutake), a graduate of Lethbridge's Galt School of Nursing (G.S.N.).

Lamps were given to the School's nursing students as part of its annual candle lighting ceremony. The event was held to commemorate the completion of its first year students' probationary period. The lamp is symbolic of the work done by Nurse Florence Nightingale who worked round-the-clock to care for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War.

For the first two years of her program, Sassa wore black shoes and black stockings. The third year, however, "brought joy" for Sassa when she and her peers were permitted to burn their black shoes and replace them with white ones - an indication that she and others were now 'Senior Students'. The above-featured shoes were acquired by Sassa immediately after she graduated in 1959. Stated Sassa in 2009, the "more stylish" low heeled shoes were a welcome change on account that her Cuban-heeled, school shoes led her to "develop calluses from wearing the same shoes for three years day after day."

Donated by Pat Sassa

Showing Off White Shoes and Stockings, c. 1958 P20090036000 Senior student nurses stand outside Lethbridge's Municipal Hospital, the site of the Galt School of Nursing in 1958. Shown (l-r) are Shirley May, Anne Doerksen, Nancy Taise, Judy Quon, Joan Brennan, Bev Gilchrist, Pat Okutake and Gail Swennumson. Photo courtesy of Pat Sassa