25. Going to Sickbay

As many readers will remember Joyce Green Hospital’s staff sickbay was situated on the outer ring road near to the block that housed Wards G1 and G2 and adjacent to the small Urological Theatre Block.

The sickbay was where some prospective staff went for a medical examination prior to starting work in the hospital (or before commencing their training) and of course it was the first port of call for staff who became ill or suffered an accident while on the premises. It was also where resident staff were nursed as in-patients if this was deemed necessary.

Perhaps the best known doctor-in-charge of the sickbay was Dr E. O’Sullivan who was also responsible for Ward G1 (Infectious Diseases) and for Long Reach Hospital too.

But have you ever wondered how the term “sickbay” arose? It arose it seems from Royal Navy usage and the two most plausible explanations that I have come across are these.

Firstly, it has been suggested that the berths for sick or injured sailors were located at the stern (the rounded end of the back) of old fashioned sailing ships and because the contour of sterns was a bay shape the sailors began calling this area “the sickbay, i.e. the bay where the sick were tended.

The second explanation derives from the fact that on early wooden naval ships the space occupied by each gun on the main gun decks was known as ‘a bay’. However since some of the bays in the forward part of each ship did not actually ‘house’ cannons it became common practice to use these empty bays for dealing with the sick and wounded.

Thus when sailors were sick or wounded they would be removed to this part of the ship, i.e. the sickbay(s), with their hammocks and bedding perhaps so that the fitter sailors wouldn’t have to listen to their groans - because remember analgesics hardly existed then. Or were they moved to one particular part of the ship simply so that life was made easier for those looking after them?

The first naval ships were manned with a ship's Surgeon and a Surgeon's Mate (the surgeon’s mate being of warrant officer status).

Apparently during the infancy of the Royal Navy there were no nurses trained in the care of the sick and wounded and so it became common practice to designate a number of the least-needed members of the crew to assist the Surgeon and the Surgeon's Mate. These crew members were called “landsmen” and they were, more often than not, the older or less able seamen whose job it was to keep the bays (or "the sickbay") clean, well fumigated and sprinkled with vinegar.

During the 18th and 19th centuries these landsmen became known as loblolly Boys (from the activity of serving loblolly - a thick, gooey porridge occasionally containing chunks of meat or vegetables - to sick or injured crew member in order to speed up their recovery. Their duties also included holding patients down during surgery, cleaning the surgeon’s tools, disposing of amputated limbs and bedpan duties. Additionally the loblolly boys controlled the stocks of herbs, “medicines” and medical supplies.

Later they became known as sick berth attendants (or as “baymen” in American Navy terminology).

If you cast your mind back now to the fact that the some of the earliest hospital facilities on this stretch of the River Thames, next to the Joyce Green site, you might also recall the fact that three hospital ships - the “Atlas”, the “Endymion” and the “Castalia” - were purchased and moored at Long Reach. These were used from about 1884 onwards in managing the terrible smallpox epidemic of the time.

Amusing perhaps to consider how the concept of “sick bays” on naval vessels evolved into the formation of hospital (and other) sickbays, like the one at Joyce Green?

24. JGH, Long Reach Hospital and the big flood.

January is often affected by bad weather and consequently we are very often quick to complain about the discomfort that it brings. However any one who was working at Joyce Green during the evening or night of January 31st 1953 could have been forgiven for being worried about the safety of the patients in the hospital and/or their own safety. This is because that was the night when, according to The Open University, “the worst peacetime disaster that the United Kingdom has ever known” took place.

The combination of a very high spring tide in the North Sea and a severe windstorm led to a storm tide which subsequently overwhelmed the sea defences all along the coastlines of Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France and of the UK leading to severe flooding, serious damage and huge losses of life.

At 5pm the first of a number of sea walls along the Lincolnshire coastline gave way and 20ft waves came crashing down onto nearby homes killing 41 people. Later on that evening 132 of the 172 people who had been travelling onboard the British Rail North Sea Ferry “Princess Victoria” died after abandoning their ship in high seas.

1835 people died in the Netherlands, whilst the number of British citizens who died totalled 307. A total 30,000 people were evacuated from their homes in England as the tidal surge knocked out tide gauges between the Wash & Southend and devastated land and property along the Thames Estuary. On Canvey Island alone 58 people died and 10,000 had to be evacuated.

The flooding extended up the River Thames into the Docklands area but fortunately Central London was spared. It is reported that worried emergency staff watched as the water lapped the top of the embankment walls in Victoria and Chelsea because of course if the defences had been breached the Underground system would also have been submerged.

By 2.00 a.m. on 1st February the whole of the Long Reach Hospital site was 6ft under water but the nightmare scenario of what to do with an evacuated, infectious smallpox patient did not arise because the hospital was simply on “Stand By” status that night. The Gate Porter on duty at Long Reach though apparently had to wade through the water in order to reach dry ground at Joyce Green.

It seems that the flood waters reached Joyce Green's North Gate, a distance of half a mile from the river and then it finally flooded the Wells fireworks factory on Sunday afternoon (2nd February). There it caused a reaction between some of the chemicals stored there and this resulted in a fire and three explosions which in turn shattered 400-500 panes of glass in the windows of Joyce Green Hospital.

For those of you who can get hold of a copy of Francine Payne’s excellent book: “Joyce Green & the River Hospitals” page 28 shows a very amusing photograph of Matron Couzins in a rowing boat on the flooded Long Reach site with the Minister of Health’s Parliamentary Secretary viewing the flood waters two others from the Ministry.

In typical British fashion a committee was eventually set up to consider flood defences, particularly for London, and as a result 30 years later the Thames Barrier was built. It now known though that this barrier will no longer be “fit for purpose” after 2015 and officials have already begun to consider what needs to be done now to defend the next generation of Londoners against the sea.

However, for better or for worse, neither Joyce Green Hospital, Long Reach Hospital or the Wells firework factory will require any protection in the future, will they ?

23. Birds of a feather flock together.

Some patients are fortunate to enjoy much better views than others whilst receiving care or treatment within British hospitals. In-patients at The Bristol General Infirmary, for example, are very fortunate to be able to look out onto one of the nearby floating docks and it was whilst I was watching a couple of swans swimming very near its windows the other day that I found myself thinking about some of the birds associated with Joyce Green Hospital.

I am far from an ornithologist and I wouldn’t claim to be able to recognise many of the birds that lived in the hospital grounds or out on the nearby salt marshes either. I could now though recognise a Dartford Warbler because of its association with Dartford Heath and because of the place that it occupies on the hospital badge and certificate that was previously awarded to nurses who successfully passed their hospital final exams.

People sometimes confuse this bird with wrens but in fact the Dartford warbler is a different bird and one that is even smaller than the “Jenny Wren”.

Interestingly this Dartford-linked bird is one of only two bird species in existence that is named after an English town and it was first identified in the vicinity of Dartford in 1773 by Dr John L. Latham.

John Latham was born in Eltham, became a surgeon after studying medicine in London after working under the radical anatomist and surgeon, John Hunter and went on to practise medicine in Dartford.

He must have done well for himself financially because we are told that by 1796 (at the age of 56yrs) he retired to travel and to pursue his other passion - the study of birds. He even travelled to the east coast of Australia, which had by now been claimed by Captain James Cook for King George III of England, in order to study the bird life there - later writing three bird-related text books and becoming known as “the Grandfather of Australian Ornithology”.

It is said that he built up a collection of birds during the time that he lived and worked in Dartford which he eventually left to the town museum and even now it is still possible to see a carefully preserved specimen of this little bird in the Municipal Museum.

One thing that I can’t help thinking about now though is: Who suggested using the Dartford warbler as the emblem for the Dartford group of hospitals and when was this decision made?

Patricia Telesco, in her book: “The Magick of Folk Wisdom” (1995) claims that “a wren’s feather acted as a charm against disaster or drowning” and since the Dartford warbler is also sometimes referred to as the “furze (gorse) wren” I wonder if someone foresaw the severe flooding of the Thames Estuary in January 1953 which was to profoundly effect the whole of the Long Reach site - long after John Latham's death - and thought that the choice of this symbol would offer some protection from the forthcoming deluge ?

In any case it appears that that magic didn't work! However, more of this in the next entry.

22. Wind in the wrong direction again!

Do you remember the powerful smells that sometimes wafted over different parts of Dartford from the Burroughs Wellcome factory years ago?

Sometimes, when the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, these organic or chemical smells could be smelt across the Joyce Green Hospital site and it used to amuse some of us - staff and students alike - to joke about it perhaps being the latest occasion when Burroughs Wellcome were “boiling up animal carcases to extract the insulin” from them. Not politically very correct nowadays I appreciate, but we were young then and less well informed.

Whether what we were smelling WAS actually coming from the insulin extraction processes in the factory or not is difficult to say but I think it’s true that insulin production took place there and that as a result many thousands of people have cause to be grateful to the biochemists and staff involved.

This month marks the 75th Anniversary of the first occasion when a patient was first treated for diabetes by an insulin injection.

Other scientists had done a lot of the ground work prior to the 1920s but it was of course Dr Fred Banting (previously an orthopaedic specialist at Toronto Children’s Hospital), with the help of a medical student called Charles Best and a biochemist named James Colip - working together at The University of Toronto - who eventually produced insulin for injection from the pancreases of calves.

Leonard Thompson, a 14 yr old local boy had had diabetes for the previous two years and was close to death prior to receiving this, the very first, first insulin injection on January 11th 1922. However, he had a violent allergic reaction to this strange protein and all further injections had to be postponed until additional refinements could be made to this magic potion. The team apparently worked day and night to improve the quality of the insulin and Leonard eventually received his 100% successful second injection on 23rd January 1922.

Prior to this, anyone told that they had developed diabetes knew that they were simultaneously being given a death sentence because most diabetics died within weeks or months of being diagnosed. Leonard Thompson however lived for another 11-14 years as result of receiving regular insulin injections. There seems to be some difference of opinion about what he finally died of but how grateful he must have been for those ten or more years of relatively good health?

Incidentally the Kent Diabetes Information website: www.kentdiabetesinfo.co.uk is dedicated to Leonard and you can see a photo of him on their site.

Whilst the early insulin treatment programmes and patient studies took place in Canada, the British government quickly approved five pharmaceutical companies in the U.K. to manufacture insulin and, as the history books all show, Burroughs Wellcome Ltd was one of them.

The first British insulin was produced and used in 1923, although whether the Burroughs Wellcome factory in Dartford had the privilege of manufacturing the first batch I have no idea. Neither do I know whether those strong odours that sometimes wafted over the Temple Hill Estate in days gone by truly arose from the insulin manufacturing processes?

Finally if you would like to see an early picture of their factory on Mill Pond Road one can be seen on the www.oldukphotos.com/kent_dartford.htm website.

21. Happy Birthday Staff Nurse White.

“Unfulfilled, bitter and revelling in petty tyranny over patients”. Hardly a description of someone one would perhaps want to sing “Happy Birthday” to ?

This though is how the fictious nurse, played by the actress Imelda Staunton in the “Singing Detective” TV series, was described. Perhaps you remember her in the “Pitter Patter” episiode in Decemember 1986 ?

On the other hand perhaps you missed seeing that episiode (or a repeat of it) ? In any case you’ll probably know Imelda Staunton from other theatrical or tv roles ?

Coincidentally it’s Imelda’s birthday today (9 January). She is 50yrs old and so those of you who feel like it can take the opportunity - albeit inwardly - to wish her well.

Perhaps you will also remember her playing Vera, the London back street abortionist in the film “Vera Drake”? So there’s two “caring” roles at least that she has acted in. She has, incidentally, pronounced herself “pro-choice” in the matter of abortion although I don’t particularly want to discuss the “ins and outs” of her views or her role as “Vera” here.

No… what I thought might be interesting to do was to touch briefly here on her background.

Her parents came from County Mayo and became first generation Irish Catholic immigrants. They moved to London at some point and Imelda was born in the Archway area of North London where they settled.

“Nothing very amazing in that ”, do I hear you saying. “Hundreds of thousands of Irish people (both Roman Catholics and Protestants) have immigrated to England during the past two hundred years !”

You are right of course and that’s a fact. But just thinking about all those youngish Irish people coming across the Irish Sea to find work here or to look for a better life for themselves reminded me of the many Irish men and women who I met at Joyce Green.

I can certainly recall Matron Couzens going over to Ireland from time to time to promote the hospital and to recruit young men and women for Joyce Green.

I am sure that many of you reading this will also remember some of those young, innocent, Irish woman who subsequently started their nurse's training in the Preliminary Training School (or Introductory Block as it became called later). And do you also remember some of the many other usually slightly-older adults who were already qualified as Registered Mental Nurses or Registered Nurses for the Mentally Handicapped, who came to Joyce Green to undertake shortened courses in order to become S.R.Ns ?

My composite memory of you - my ex Irish colleagues - is you all as a wonderfully friendly, hard-working, fun-loving group of people and I for one certainly enjoyed studying, working and socialising with you all.

I suppose that if I had to select one single memory of my contact with you during my training days, my abiding one would be this one. Of my regular visits with some of you (… my contemporaries …) to the Irish Club near New Cross station, and of us dancing until it was time to rush back to catch the last train home to Dartford ... with the music and lyrics of “Black Velvet Band” ringing in my ears.

I hope that you are all still doing well, wherever you are ?

20. In via another magic wardrobe door !

By the way, the http://members.aol.com/wizzz900/index.html website about Joyce Green and Dartford is well worth looking at from time to time.

Many of you are sure to appreciate the "double take" photo section of some of Dartford's buildings and streets, via which it's possible to see how certain places "used to look" contrasted with "how they look now" but ex-Joyce Greeners are also likely to enjoy the material about the hospital too.

19. Endings and beginnings

2007 already .... it hardly seems possible, I know !

But cast your mind back now 50 years ago ..... to one or two of the things that happened in Dartford in 1957.

Perhaps you had occasion to peel a piece of sticky greaseproof paper off a piece of Christmas pudding last week ? If so, you'll perhaps recall that Dartford had a very successful greaseproof papermaking industry for many years? You may even have checked-up on the identity or personal details of a patient at Joyce Green, only to be informed that s/he was employed in The Dartford Greaseproof Paper Mills ? The factory was eventually taken over by Joseph Rank Ltd but sadly it closed in 1957.

Or what about employees of J.C. Beadle's (the vehicle body building specialists in Dartford) ? Did you nurse any of them ? The John C. Beadle company built up a brilliant reputation in the manufacture and adaptation of bodywork for private, commercial and passenger service vehicles but alas they also ceased production in 1957.

What else happened in Dartford in 1957 ?

Dave Charnley, "The Dartford Destroyer", who was born in Dartford in 1935, earned the British Lightweight Boxing Championship title in 1957 (and kept it too until 1963). Are you a boxing fan and did you perhaps follow his career as a national hero ? Even if you didn't, do you remember that after he gave up boxing he opened up several hairdressing salons ? Maybe you even had your hair cut and/or styled in one or other of them ?

1957 was also the year in which Harold Macmillan, the Conservative Prime Minister, told us that we (the British public) had "never had it so good".

So ... was it a good year in your life, and if you were working at Joyce Green, were there things that happened that you particularly remember ? Elsie Couzens (Joyce Green's very last "Matron") had been in post 5 years at this time and one wonders what she was making of her job, with her feet firmly under the table, by that stage ?

Have you got have particular recollections, views, comments about the various happenings at Joyce Green or in the Dartford ? If so, do feel free to send me an e-mail (via: careofu@hotmail.com