The Nurse: Marva Christensen Hanchett of Sevier County

The Nurse: Marva Christensen Hanchett of Sevier County

BY PATRICIA H. SORENSON

THE CHRISTENSEN GIRLS, Telia and Lelia, ran most of the way to school on the cold morning of December 3, 1908. They could hardly wait to tell the exciting news to their friends. They had become aunts during the night. Their brother Peter and his wife, Maud, after being married three and one-half years, had had a baby girl. The news spread fast in the small town of Annabella, Sevier County, Utah, population less than three hundred. It had been a difficult birth and the midwife had had to send to Richfield for the nearest doctor. But the girls assured their friends that both mother and baby were fine. The little girl was named Marva Christensen, and her parents planned for her to be a schoolteacher as her mother had been. But as she grew up they soon became aware of her great interest in anything that had to do with health.

In the fall of 1919, when Marva was in the sixth grade, her family contracted smallpox, a dreaded, but not too uncommon, disease at that time. When the doctor made his regular calls, she was brimming with questions: "What caused it? Why does each one in the family become ill at different times? Why is mother almost covered with the pox while my little brother Tex has only a few?" Marva bustled around the house carrying liquids to her patients, applying medicine to the pox to ease the itching; and when the pustular lesions broke, she changed and washed the soiled sheets. She cared for her loved ones willingly until she, last of all, became very ill. The whole family was quarantined (could not go outside of the fence around their home) until the last member of the family was declared well by the quarantine officer.

Later that winter Marva contracted scarlet fever, and six weeks later she was confined with rheumatic fever. Her bed was brought downstairs to the warmth of the large kitchen. As soon as she was sufficiently recovered, her tonsils were removed. During that year she missed much school; but tutored at home by her mother, she kept up with her class. More important, she gained a first-hand knowledge of the needs and feelings of the sick.

A few years later an unexpected illness in the family changed Marva's life and shaped her career. Her youngest brother, Sheldon, became ill two days after Christmas 1924. At first the family thought the boy, less than two years old, had the flu, but the doctor diagnosed Sheldon's worsening condition as double pneumonia. Marva listened to the detailed instructions Dr. Clark gave her mother on caring for Sheldon and helped her to carry them out. Years later she could still remember the details of that experience:

There were mustard plasters to be applied to both the front and back of his chest every four hours and cooling sponge baths to be given to keep his temperature down as much as possible. He was to have liquids often, cough medicine as needed, the room temperature and humidity had to be kept just right. In fact all of the nursing and medical care known at that time were necessary.

I remember thinking how nice it would be if we had a hospital in the area. The only medical facility we had was a home owned by a nurse where doctors could operate on their patients, but she would not admit children under twelve years of age. She was owner, operator, and nurse on duty or on call for twenty-four hours.

The youngster failed to respond to his mother's and sister's ministrations and grew weaker, breathing in shallow gasps. When Dr. R. Garn Clark examined Sheldon again, he said that the boy had developed empyema, a condition in which pus accumulates between the two coverings of the lungs. The doctor said he would have to remove a small section of rib and insert a soft rubber tube to drain the pus. Hopefully, Sheldon would have enough strength to recover. Discouraged, but willing to do all they could to save the boy's life, Marva and her parents followed the doctor's instructions.

The operation was planned for Saturday and I stayed out of school Friday to help Mother prepare the parlor for an operating room. The walls, floor and windows were scrubbed with a Lysol solution, the curtains were taken down and all the furniture except two tables removed. Friday night I was so tired I fell asleep soon after supper, but was up early the next morning to prepare breakfast. None of us could eat much.

Father had been sent to get "Nurse Amanda," a woman who had sometimes helped Dr. Clark deliver babies. A large woman, she stood straight and tall in a starched white dress, a stern look on her face. Marva wished a trained nurse were available. When the doctor arrived, only Sheldon's mother was allowed to remain in the room. But Marva was determined to observe the operation. She and her father dressed themselves warmly and went outside where they could look through the window into the parlor that had been transformed into an operating room.

We could see that the nurse had spread out the linens and instruments on one of the tables. On the other table Mother tenderly placed her little boy, kissed his forehead and then stepped back. "Nurse Amanda," as she liked to be called, blocked part of our view. We could not be sure if the doctor gave Sheldon any anaesthetic or "shot" before he put on his rubber gloves. We saw his arm move as if he were making an incision. His other hand reached for a gauze sponge, then he picked up a very small saw. His elbow moved back and forth a few times. Suddenly it happened! I could hardly believe my eyes. The big woman in her starched outfit went down in a heap on the floor. We could hear the thud outside. Dad and I started to run in, then stopped ourselves quickly and ran back to the window. The doctor was moving Amanda onto her side with his foot. He was talking excitedly to Mother. I saw Mother nod her head and come to take over. Her lips were pursed and her face pale, but I saw the same determined look appear on her face which had been there during other though perhaps less critical times.

Dad pulled me from the window and said I shouldn't watch. But I had to. Dad went into the kitchen where the "nurse" had crawled and returned angry and disgusted. "Some nurse," he said, "She is in there now being sick."

Sixteen-year-old Marva then and there made her commitment to professional nursing, telling her father of her determination to go to Salt Lake City to receive training as soon as she finished high school.

Marva could hardly wait to get into nurses training. When she graduated from high school in 1926 she was just seventeen years old and had to wait until she became eighteen, the required age for admission to nursing school. She and her friend Mildred Fillmore were accepted at the Salt Lake General Hospital School of Nursing on January 4, 1927.

Both girls packed two large suitcases with blue pin-striped uniforms, starched white-front aprons, white hose and shoes, and as many other necessities as they could cram into the bags. They rode with Mildred's relatives as far as Provo and then took the train to Salt Lake City. Arriving late on the night of January 3, the girls were tired and hungry and wondered if they could make it to the hospital. Their instructions were to go to State Street, catch the number 12 streetcar and go to Twenty-first South, where the hospital was located, then walk east until they came to the nurses home. When they finally arrived at their living quarters, the girls were told that it was too late to get anything to eat and that their room was on the top floor of the nurses home where all the "probies" had to live for their first year. Once again they picked up their heavy cases and wearily climbed up the stairs. They talked for a few minutes before falling into bed, wondering what the next three years would bring. It is probably just as well they could not forsee all that would happen, or even with Marva's strong desire to be a real nurse her career might have ended at that point.

The first six months of the nurses training consisted of a full day of classes and demonstrations with long study assignments to be done at night. The nurses who successfully completed this period of schooling were given their caps and, besides continuing the classes and study, were assigned to work an eight-hour shift on one of the wards.

On Marva's first night alone on Ward G (women's medical), a patient expired and Marva had to take her downstairs to the morgue.

When she reached the bottom floor, she could not get the elevator door open. She pushed the up button and pulled hard on the handle of the old iron cage, but again nothing happened. Frightened and worried about her patients left alone, she prayed and then took off her shoe and banged hard on the old bar door. In about ten minutes the night supervisor and the maintenance man came down the steps. Marva was finally freed.

Peter and Maud Christensen were worried when they received the letter telling them that their daughter Marva was assigned to Red Isolation, a ward in a red brick building away from the main hospital where those with communicable diseases were sent. At that time an epidemic of spinal meningitis had hit the state, and most of the cases were sent to Red Isolation. This serious disease caused many complications even among the patients who recovered. To help the patients it was often necessary to do a spinal puncture to relieve the pressure of the fluid built up in the brain and spinal cord. Most of the time Marva would hold the patient in the proper position; but because she was not strong enough to hold some patients, the doctor would show her just where and how to insert the needle and then he would hold the patient while she did the spinal puncture.

One little boy was made completely deaf by spinal meningitis. When his parents came to see him they had to talk to him through the window. After they left the boy asked Marva why they did not talk out loud. When she tried to explain he asked wdiy she only moved her lips. This was typical of the sad experiences she encountered.

Shortly after her required time in Red Isolation, Marva herself became ill with pneumonia. She was exhausted and her resistance was low. After her acute illness subsided, the doctor said she should go home to rest. When she arrived home and her parents saw how much weight she had lost and how tired and pale she looked, they were determined that she should not return to the hospital again. However, after a couple of months' rest and her mother's good cooking, Marva's strength returned and she convinced them that she should complete her training.

During the late 1920s and early 1930s every bed in the Salt Lake County Hospital was filled. At times it was necessary to place beds in the halls. Nurses worked six and a half days a week, took regular classes, and studied in their off hours. The interns and doctors were also overworked. The nurses often did some of their work to relieve them a little. Marva consoled herself by thinking what a wonderful learning experience she was getting.

After three years (plus make-up for the time taken for recuperation) of hard work, graduation day arrived. Marva's parents came to see their daughter receive her diploma. They were as proud as if it had been their idea.

After graduation Marva worked for a while at the hospital in Salt Lake City before returning home to do what she had planned on that cold day in 1923. The area still did not have a regular hospital, and she was the only registered nurse available for service. The doctors welcomed her home and immediately started to ask for her assistance. The first real case she was called on was one she would not soon forget.

An elderly man in one of the small towns a few miles from Annabella had what was called dry gangrene of his leg; it was extremely painful. Dr. John Gray McQuarrie had done all of the usual things to relieve the condition, but he could not relieve the pain. The patient insisted that he either wanted to have the leg cut off or to die and he didn't much care which. However, the man had been to the hospital once before, and he insisted was not going back. The doctor asked if Marva would go to the man's home and help him do an amputation. He also asked Marva to fix a sterile bundle, which she did.

On the planned day the doctor picked her up and they went to the Gottfried Brugger home. Marva asked who else was going to help and the doctor told her. The patient's daughter in-law would drip the ether anaesthetic, while Marva looked at the eyes frequently to see that all was well. Marva was also to scrub her hands and put on sterile gloves, hand Dr. McQuarrie the instruments, clamp the blood vessels, keep the area dry with the sponges, and so on. To her amazement, and maybe even the doctor's, everything went along just fine. After about a week of good nursing, Marva had the old fellow standing up using crutches. On several occasions Mr. Brugger had his family take him to visit Marva so he could show her he had been worth saving.

Marva had many other challenging experiences helping to care for the people in her area. She respected the doctors and worked well with them, assisting with home deliveries of babies, caring for the ill in their homes, and handling emergencies when the doctor asked. Many times she was paid with a bucket of honey or a loaf of bread instead of money. Sometimes she received no pay.

After a year or so, Marva became restless and journeyed to California where she was successful in getting a job as supervisor of the maternity ward in a large private hospital in Los Angeles. This was an excellent experience, and although the depression was still on, her pay was regular and she was able to save a little money.

In the late summer of 1933 she decided to return home. Her future husband arrived back in Sevier County about that same time, and after their first date she knew why she had returned. She was married to Myron Hanchett, an old acquaintance, on December 6, 1933. From then on her life was not only concerned with helping others but with being a good wife and, later, a good mother.

Soon after they were married Myron's work called him out of town. Marva did not remain idle long. She resumed home nursing. In January 1934 Marva set up the first regular public health program in Sevier County and in April became the first regular public health nurse in the county. Her work included clinics, school nursing (there were seventeen small schools in the county at that time), home nursing, and many other duties.

One of the memorable experiences of that period in her life concerned a poor family with eleven children, all of whom became infected with scabies (commonly called the seven-year itch). They lived in a three-room house with parents and two smallest children sleeping in one room, five girls sleeping in another room, and the four boys sleeping on the floor in the kitchen with wall to wall quilts. Imagine the task Marva faced in helping to clear up this problem. There seemed to be a child in almost every class in school and of course the infection spread.

In order to solve this problem, Marva prevailed upon one of the area farmers to let the family live in a vacant farmhouse that had running water. She also was successful in getting a used appliance dealer to contribute a used washer and a generous doctor to donate free medication. It was necessary to inspect daily the school children who came in contact with this family and occasionally to send notes to their parents to have the children see the family doctor.

Marva quit working at the end of the school year in May 1935 to await the birth of a son, Thann Myron, on October 26. Although times were still hard, Myron was ambitious and things were going along quite well until July 1936 when he became very ill with appendicitis. Marva had gone to work part-time for Dr. Frank Lowe and Dr. David Ostler who had just opened a new hospital above the Richfield Commercial Bank. When Myron called and gave her his symptoms, she said, "You better bring your tooth brush; this time I'm afraid you will need an operation."

When the doctor checked Myron, he told Marva to get ready for emergency surgery. They had Myron on the operating table within an hour. Marva was giving the anaesthetic when she heard the doctor say, "oh, oh, he is full of pus." At that time a ruptured appendix was a serious condition. Marva was well aware of that but w r hen asked if she wanted someone to relieve her, she replied that she wanted to continue her job. She could not trust anyone else with the life of her husband.

Myron got along very well and within three weeks was out weeding his garden. But now with their financial burdens, Marva arranged for a good housekeeper and started to work regularly. She continued as nursing supervisor for Dan W. Manning when he bought the local hospital from the doctors and also later when he built a new hospital called the Sevier Valley Hospital in Richfield. Patients were brought from the surrounding area; Garfield, Piute, and Wayne counties as well as from Sevier.

Marva spent about ten years in hospital supervision. For nearly a year during World War II, she was the only registered nurse available. She worked her regular shift and was on call for emergencies and surgery twenty-four hours each day. In addition, she trained several nurses aides who were later licensed as practical nurses, and she was also instrumental in getting several outstanding registered nurses to come to southern Utah to work.

Much of Marva's time was spent at home with her children, Thann, Patricia, and Trudy. She planned their care and was able to secure good help in the home at that time. Her husband also took much of the responsibility. After she was able to leave her youngest daughter in 1950 she returned to public health nursing until 1957.

In November 1957 the state director of public health nursing called to ask Marva if she would accept the job as acting supervisor of the eightcounty area: Beaver, Garfield, Millard, Sanpete, Juab, Piute, Wayne, and Sevier. After a conference with her family, it was felt that she should make her own decision. She accepted, thinking a qualified nurse would move in and she could give up some of her duties. She did not plan to take the advanced state merit examination which was necessary to be placed on regular status as a supervisor. However, when she received notice to take the examination, she did and passed with a high grade.

Marva covered the eight-county area until the program and responsibilities increased to the point that Beaver and Garfield counties were assigned to the supervisor of Iron, Washington, and Kane counties. This left Marva to cover approximately one-fifth of the state.

Marva's responsibilities included a preventive disease program, with emphasis on immunization for disease; better sanitary conditions; health education; a home visiting service to encourage and demonstrate better health practices; a school nursing service; and several clinical services, including heart, orthopedic, mental health, and pediatrics. Whenever a nurse retired or quit work, Marva recruited new professionals and provided orientation as needed. Her responsibilities were great, but she enjoyed her job and always said it was because she had such good nurses, doctors, and others to work with.

During her more than eighteen years of continuous supervision, medical care and nursing programs advanced rapidly, and new nursing programs were implemented to meet the needs of the public. Shortly before her retirement the Utah Public Health Association honored her with a lifetime membership in that organization during its convention in Salt Lake City.

January 1, 1974, was the special day Marva set aside for her retirement from nursing. Since then, however, she still receives many calls at home and provides guidance and consultation to the nurses as needed. This modern nursing pioneer successfully combined the careers of nurse and homemaker. To her family she is always lovingly thought of as wife and mother; but to many people in a wide area of southern Utah she is respectfully referred to as "The Nurse."

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