Former nurse tells of Worthing’s iron lung

Our recent articles looking into the history of Swandean Hospital in Worthing brought back happy memories for one former nurse, after a lifetime of caring for others.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Mrs Doris Wells trained at Littlehampton Hospital, Arundel Hospital and Worthing Hospital but spent most of her career at Swandean as a State Registered Nurse Level 2.

She met her friend Ann Graysmark when she was 18 and the pair spent many happy years working together at Swandean.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ann died recently aged about 90 and Mrs Wells remembers her as a great friend and a big character.

wo angels by the Christmas tree, Doris Wells and Ann Graysmark, who were great friends as nurses at Swandean Hospital in Worthingwo angels by the Christmas tree, Doris Wells and Ann Graysmark, who were great friends as nurses at Swandean Hospital in Worthing
wo angels by the Christmas tree, Doris Wells and Ann Graysmark, who were great friends as nurses at Swandean Hospital in Worthing
Read More
Wartime nursing at Swandean Hospital in Worthing was an interesting time

She said: “She was Irish and she was a wonderful Irish dancer.”

Mrs Wells, 83, from Sompting, was at Swandean Fever Hospital from 1956 to 1958. At the time, it was an isolation unit, with patients who had things like typhoid, polio, TB and measles.

She particularly remembers the iron lung, which was used to help people with polio and made a distinctive, rhythmic whooshing noise.

Iron lungs saved many lives, helping people to breathe when their chest muscles were paralysedIron lungs saved many lives, helping people to breathe when their chest muscles were paralysed
Iron lungs saved many lives, helping people to breathe when their chest muscles were paralysed
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mrs Wells said: “ It was like a chamber you could put a person inside and you only really lifted them out to feed them on occasion. It was to help you breathe.”

Iron lungs were large and expensive to run but they saved many lives, helping people to breathe when their lung muscles were paralysed.

This was state-of-the-art life support technology in the first half of the 20th century, having been first used at Boston Children’s Hospital in America to save the life an eight-year-old girl with polio in 1928.

Muscle paralysis was one of the worst symptoms of acute polio and if it affected the chest, the sufferer was unable to breathe unaided. The team at Harvard University developed the iron lung, a huge, airtight metal box attached to bellows, which kept the patient breathing by creating continuous suction. The bellows sucked air out of the box and as the air pressure fell, the patient’s lung expanded automatically, drawing in fresh air. When the bellows allowed air back into the chamber, the pressure rose and the lungs deflated, pushing out the air.

Doris Wells as a young nurseDoris Wells as a young nurse
Doris Wells as a young nurse
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mrs Wells left the isolation unit behind when she and her husband Brian went to live in Australia in 1970. She worked in Adelaide for three years but they had to return to England then, because Mrs Wells caught rheumatic fever and her mother had a stroke.

When she returned to England, Mrs Wells went back to work at Swandean Hospital, which had become a geriatric unit, caring for the elderly, and she worked there from 1973 to April 1994.

Mrs Wells said: “It was much the same. I enjoyed it. Both my sisters were nurses in Worthing as well.”

Ann was also working at Swandean at the time and it was from there that the friendship really grew, although the nurses had known each other since Mrs Wells was 18.

Doris and Ann worked together for many years and both retired from Swandean in 1994Doris and Ann worked together for many years and both retired from Swandean in 1994
Doris and Ann worked together for many years and both retired from Swandean in 1994
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The pair retired together from Swandean in 1994 and in one card, Dee Bull wrote Mrs Wells a poem, entitled Doris, 1958 to 1995.

Way back in 1958

Young Doris thought ‘what’s worse?’

To go to work hard all my life

Or train to be a nurse

She decided on the latter

And took the world by storm

Because she looked so sexy

In her nurse’s uniform

Then off she went to Swandean

And in 1964

An Irish girl named Ann arrived

Her friend forever more

They worked together for 30 years

The patients loved them so

Their happy laugh, and gentle smile

Was all they’d ever know

So goodbye Doris, and goodbye Ann

How will we all survive

Without your tender loving care

In 1995

However, Mrs Wells decided that at the age of 60, she was not quite done with nursing, so she went on to work at Sandena Nursing Home in Findon, where she stayed until she finally took retirement July 2002.

Cards and letters which Mrs Wells has kept all these years pay tribute to her dedication and caring approach.

One, from a lady named Joyce, says: “Bill often used to talk to me about the way you nursed, so gentle, always a smile, unlimited supply of kindness, which certainly got through to him and made his short time with you so much easier.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Pat Seabourne, thanking Doris and Karen for being with Sheila, wrote: “Apart from your professional nursing care, you were so gentle and kind and so thoughtful to us. It is something I shall always remember. I felt such peace and almost joy when I walked into Sheila’s room that morning with you both sitting with her.

“Although I will miss her a lot, I know it is so right for her to go on to something far better. We had so much happiness and fun over the years together. This and so much more lives on.”

David and Cyndy from Mitcham wrote to thank Jenny and Doris for the care they provided at Sandena: “Just a quick note to thank you both for everything you did for Mum over the years. You made her smile and laugh and feel less lonely and you were always ‘there’ for her - even when she was confused. We’ll always be grateful for everything you all did.”

Mrs Wells said she had always wanted to be a nurse and she enjoyed her career, especially her time at Swandean.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She contacted the Herald and Gazette team after seeing our piece about Huw George, who has been looking into his late mother’s nursing career and is hoping people can help him find out more. Mair Eluned Rees from the Swansea Valley in South Wales secured a position at Swandean Hospital as a probationer nurse in 1939.

Email [email protected] and do not forget to let us know, too, by email to [email protected].

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.