Cape Times advert inspires generations of nurses
WHEN Sister Dorothy Elaine Lewis saw a job advert in the Cape Times on March 10, 1970, little did she know it would open a window for generations of her family to follow in her footsteps.
Lewis, now 87, responded to an advert for the post and she was hired on the spot. She went on to become Groote Schuur Hospital’s first black matron and also started the hospital crèche.
“I started working at a sanatorium, a place for TB patients, during a time when TB was rife. I then went on holiday and when I came back, I decided to give notice.
“I called my husband and asked him to get me a newspaper, he was very puzzled but he bought me a Cape Times and I saw the advert and called Groote Schuur that morning. I was appointed straight away.”
Lewis said she believes she was hired because the hospital thought she was white, adding that they were surprised when she arrived.
“But by then they had already hired me, although they changed the ward I would serve in. Then after three years I became the first coloured matron at Groote Schuur after shadowing the matron there and when she left, I stayed in the position.”
She said one of her proudest achievements was helping start the Oak Street School in the late 1970s.
“Originally there was a crèche for the children of white employees, but I recommended we create a crèche for all children. I was good friends with the chief engineer and he helped with the making of the toys and design for the crèche.”
Lewis, who retired in 1995, said she was fond of people, especially the sick. Lewis’s son and daughter-in-law now work at the hospital and her grandchildren attended the hospital crèche.
“Nursing is never going to be the same. Back then we didn’t rush things, for example when we received students we taught them to be gracious to the patients and visitors and so on. There was a bigger emphasis on the human factor back then.”
She said nurses working during Covid-19 were faced with an enormous task which they were handling well.