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| Chicago Police vs. Demonstrators 1968 |
On this election day, my thoughts turn to the days of old school political tomfoolery. Some things never change. The day to day political process in Chicago during the late 1960's was a mine field of toxic emotional response fueled by the unending Viet Nam War. There was the police riot just outside the doors of the Democratic National Convention in 1968, followed by the mayhem so freely sewed by Jerry Rubin's YIPPIES.
Richard Nixon's election and subsequent inability to bring the war in Viet Nam to a conclusion, incited a renewed rift of student demonstrations. SDS or Students for a Democratic Society was the mover and shaker on college campuses and had divided over the issue of violence as a means to end the war.
In the fall of 1969, the Weathermen contingent of the SDS staged the Chicago Days of Rage. Stores were ransacked and police cars overturned. Lengths of chain, slinging case hardened padlocks were one of the weapons of choice. The police countered with batons and tear gas, bringing many of their more seriously injured customers to the ER. Some of the victims arrived at the ER strapped to the back of Harley-Davidson Servicars which were unique 3 wheeled motorcycles. A rough ride on the back of one of these contraptions was one of the social engineering experiments by law enforcement. A ride on these bucking broncos was enough to deter further bad behavior.
I was a 19 year old student nurse at the time and often came in contact with some of the hapless student demonstrators as they were triaged. These well intentioned youngsters sometimes asked me if I was going to attend the next demonstration on Halsted Street in the morning. "No, I have clinical all day on 3B tomorrow. There is no time for any of that if you are a student nurse."
Nursing was a wonderful shield from the political tumult of the day. Being present to my patients in their time of need felt so good compared to the emotional cauldron stewing within the tear gassed and beaten demonstrators. Diploma nursing schools, with instructors like Miss Bruiser on your back all the time, could be trying, but the monastic life did have it's peaceful moments-some of which I would like to call to mind on this strained election day.
Good to know some things never change OFRN! Watching from over here in Australia... cheers, Sue.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
ReplyDeleteI was worried about your hospitalization. Hope things are going well with you and you are staying safe. It's great to hear form you!
Thanks OFRN I am fine now - and I couldn't speak highly enough of the nursing care I received - what cheerful, kind & competent nursing staff we have at our hospital here, I was impressed. I was only an inpatient for a short time...it's very kind of you to ask after me.
DeleteAllegheny County was mentioned in our national news broadcast here over the weekend - and I thought, that's where OFRN lives I think!
I sure hope you are keeping safe over there. I think about how you are too and keep hoping you're OK. Your great country sure is hitting our news these days... All the very best. Sue
Yep, Allegheny County has been my home for over 40 years. I liked it so much better than the often time cruel world of Chicago. Dr. Slambow always said that you had to live where you wake up and it was much easier waking up in Pittsburgh-much more low key than densely packed urban jungles.
DeleteOne of the first things I noticed about Pittsburgh is how just about every crime made the local news reports. In Chicago, there were so many murders it would have been impossible to report them all. In my old age, I have stopped listening to much of the news-a habit I should have picked uo earlier in life.
I think Chicago has always been known as a tough town OFRN! I have a book by an Australian woman, Cynthia Nolan, called A Bride for St Thomas - she was married to our famous artist Sidney Nolan but she trained as a nurse at St Thomas'Hospital in the UK in the late 1930s. Anyway, she mentions she first started her nursing in Chicago at St Joseph's Hospital, with lectures at DePaul University. I am wondering if you know of these places? She speaks very highly of the American training rather than the British.
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I had a chuckle about all the murders, yet Brian Doyle in his book obviously loved the city - although he does mention the gangs quite often. Cheers OFRN! Sue (and excuse me for getting your blog off topic, but in these days a chat is nice!)
It certainly is! I'm off topic 99% of the time.
DeleteI live in a “city” in North Carolina where people still wave to their neighbors and we eat a lot of fried food. I make the trek to the big city 3 days a week to take care of people and support myself and my canine friend.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally, I hear overhead warnings about lockdowns in the ED. I think that these are a code for trauma victims and the anticipated security concerns. I have worked in a larger city in North Carolina. It was troubling for me when my 85 year old home health patient described how sad she was to hear that her pregnant niece had been killed in a drug deal gone bad. Coworker whose husband was a resident in big city ER told me that baby was apparently fine.
I don’t think I would have lasted long in Pittsburgh, and certainly not Chicago. It helps me to hear of your stories of gang strife and young lives ended too soon, OFRN. Even living the good life in the heart of North Carolina, I am occasionally faced with the pain of losing a patient when I thought I could do more. As always, your written recollections inspire and help me to get up when the alarm goes off and do what I can all over again. I owe a great deal to you for that.
Thanks so much for your kind words and reading so much of my foolishness.
ReplyDeleteWhen my alarm went off during the freezing cold early hours of Chicago winters, thinking about patients that did well always got me going again. I sure wouldn't have done that for money!
I don't think I explained myself well earlier OFRN - Cynthia's Nolan's book about her nursing training just before WWII is one of the most accurate, moving and humourous accounts of nursing I have ever read - and as I was reading it I was surprised she had started training in Chicago at St Joseph's Hospital & I wondered if you had any knowledge of this hospital during your time in Chicago? She clearly found her fellow nursing trainees a delightful bunch there!
ReplyDeleteHope this makes my previous post a bit clearer - if still off topic! Sue
I am a bit worried about you over there OFRN, I hope you are keeping yourself safe. Sue.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing just fine, Sue. My wife and I have been saying home as the virus surges outside.
DeleteSt. Joseph's hospital was located in Lakeview, the same Chicago neighborhood as the school I attended. It was just 1/2 block south and east (overlooking Lake Michigan) from where I lived. IT was a much nicer hospital than the largely charity institution where I worked. St. Joseph's had more patients with private insurance and the ER sent most all of their trauma patients to us supposedly because we were more experienced, but I suspect the real reason was that most of them were uninsured. Rather than shutter their school of nursing in the late 1970s like mine, St. Joseph's morphed into a baccalaureate progam associated with Loyola and dePaul university.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family OFRN! from Sue in Australia
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sue, and I wish you the same. We are staying put here at home as the pandemic rages outside. I don't know how the courageous, young whippersnapperns face it everyday. I think of them all the time
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