Durban -A month after the launch of McCord Hospital’s new chapter as a provincial eye hospital, hundreds of nurses who trained there gathered for a reunion.
They met on Sunday in a hall at the Overport hospital – the very place where they started their careers.
One of them was Zodwa Mageba, 72, who started her training at McCord in 1964.
This was soon after the departure of Dr James McCord who, with his wife, Margaret, opened the hospital as United Congregational Church missionaries in 1909.
“I trained and stayed at McCord my whole career. When I retired, I was the longest-serving employee in the history of the hospital after 47 years,” beamed Mageba.
She had also taught midwifery before being promoted into management.
What had kept her at the hospital was the spiritual care she received herself, which in turn groomed her to be patient with patients.
“We were well taken care of, so we could better take care of people,” she said.
Other “McCordites” shared similar sentiments, including Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande – wife of Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training – who delivered the keynote address at the gala dinner which launched the three-day reunion on Friday.
According to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health website, the 106-year-old hospital was one of the first in the country to have training programmes for black nurses, starting in 1914.
It went on to describe the nursing staff as: “…dedicated and caring” and as the “backbone of the hospital”.
This was because of the missionary ethos instilled in all “McCordites”, said one of the reunion organisers, Lilly Lioma, who did her general nursing and midwifery at McCord between 1980 and 1984.
“Compassionate care was built into our training. The Christian values of the hospital have not been lost, we know it can heal people before they are even seen by the doctor,” Lioma said.
She said this compassion could be felt as soon as one entered the hospital regardless of religious beliefs, and this was what had brought them together, even though many had gone on to do further training elsewhere.
“No matter where our careers take us, we will always be McCordites,” Lioma said.
Hospital manager, Dr Jay Mannie, said at the formal function on Sunday. The nurses still started each day with a prayer.
Daily News
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