CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – EVER since her childhood days growing up in Cox Village Dolpher Hobson wanted to be a nurse; so it was no surprise to anyone when she joined the profession after leaving school.
“In those days we used to go by the hospital and the nurses looked so special that we wanted to emulate them.”
Hobson got her early education at the St. John’s Primary School, the Gingerland Girls’ School and the Gingerland Senior School (now Gingerland Secondary). She remembers the Head Master at Gingerland Senior as “a very serious man”, Cedric Harper, who taught them the many values of life.
Hobson served as a general trauma nurse from 1962 until 1965 when she took on midwifery. By 1969 she was finished with midwifery and served from then until 1976 as a Staff Nurse
In 1976 she successfully completed a Basic Manager’s Course at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados and was appointed Ward Sister. With the promotion however, came a directive that she relocate to St. Kitts. According to the former nurse, she refused and was stripped of her new rank, which ultimately led to her retiring in 1978.
“I decided that I wasn’t settling for that, so I went into retirement.”
The love for nursing had never departed her heart, and when Simeon Daniel became Premier in 1980 he persuaded her to return to active duty.
“He was bugging me everyday – ‘You have to go back to work. You have to go back to work. I don’t know how you could give it up like that’. Eventually, I went back to work in July 1980.”
Hobson undertook another course in Barbados in 1982 and this time returned to be promoted to Departmental Sister. Although she acted in several other positions, she remained a Department Sister until she retired in 1999.
“At times I was Acting Assistant Matron; Acting Matron, but I was never given the job.”
According to Hobson, she was always overlooked for promotion and the final straw that led to her retiring was when a Matron was appointed who was 15 years her junior.
Nevertheless, she really enjoyed her time as a nurse: “The memories and experiences will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
She explained that some of the memorable experiences include seeing patients, who were all but dead, nursed back to life; a burn victim included. She said experiences like that made the job most rewarding.
According to Hobson, people today do not have that love for nursing as before, since it is a very tough job and interferes with family life. She said however, “It is a sacrifice that you have to make if you love the job.”
During her time as manager she also prepared exams for junior nurses, including writing questions.
As a retiree, Hobson’s time is now taken up with Red Cross and Lion’s Club activities and tending to her flower store.
Her business started as a clothing store during her first retirement in 1978. She was later advised to diversify and, since she always liked flowers, she gradually phased out the clothing and got into selling flowers.
