Remember to brush twice a day
Open wide. A reunion of NZ school dental nurses who first met each other 69 years ago has been held in Ōmokoroa. The octogenarians lived, trained and worked together in Wellington from 1955 to 1957.
In March, they came together from as far afield as Wānaka, Rangiora, Whāngarei, New Plymouth, Gisborne, Palmerston North, and Auckland.
Brandishing a history book, Francie proudly tells me the programme began as a world-first social experiment, based on the number of armed forces enrolments refused based on the state of the applicants’ teeth.
“It was not an easy job even when we came along a few years after it began. The girls got to work on horseback or with milk tanker drivers; others had to take a boat in the Sounds, and one travelled to school thanks to an undertaker.
“Now we read some children are waiting three years to be seen by a mobile clinic. We were based at the schools, so it isn’t the same as it was,” says Francie.
The group of 85 to 87-year-olds has got together several times since 1957, but the last meet-up in Auckland was a few years ago. The latest gathering has been planned for about a year.
It was a chance to reminisce about their accommodation, where up to six would share the bath water. Birthdays were a celebration with gin, smoking, and tomato sandwiches. The bottle of gin was hidden under a removable floorboard.
“We were homesick to begin with, but there were tears at the end,” she says.
There was a strong hint of racier stories that are not for respectable publication.