AFTER SEEING a loved
one through an_ extended
stay in hospital, most peo-
ple swear they'll never step
down those sterile hallways
again.

By Evelyn Jacob
News Reporter

I, for one, know that feeling
well. My own father was hospital-
ized for six months after he suf-
fered a brain stem stroke that
paralyzed his ability to swallow
and left him unable to speak or
eat.

I hated even walking into the
hospital lobby, let alone the ward
he was on.

But the sight of snaking I.V.
lines hooked up to forbidding
metallic machines and the per-
vading stench of alcohol didn’t
turn Inge Schamborzki away.

In Schamborzki’s last year of
high school, her mother became
seriously il] and wound up in a
Montreal hospital. That was her
first brush with the health care
system, and Schamborzki
remembers feeling powerless sit-
ting by her mother’s bedside.

**I felt completely helpless to do
anything at all. I felt overwhelmed
by the technology, the smells —
the equipment.”’ .

Rather than shy away, Scham-
borzki went’ out and enrolied in
nursing school. The training gave
ber a whole new appreciation of
the profession.

“| think that until we as
members of the public have our
own personal experiences, it’s dif-
ficult to fully understand what
nurses do and why it’s so impor-
tant,’’ she says.

Today the West Vancouver res-
ident is the new president of the
Registered Nurses Association of
B.C., a professional organization
of more thaa 33,000 registered
and licensed graduate nurses.

She’s aiso vice-president of nur-
sing at Vancouver General Hospi-
tal and a clinical instructor at the
University of B.C.

Educating the public about the
vital role nurses play is a topic
she’s been speaking out on a lot.
After all, it is nurses, net doctors,
who Jook after patients 24 hours a
day and provide them with emo-
tionai support.

Recession
designing

THE WEST Vancouver YMCA is
hosting an evening workshop titl-
ed ‘Interior Design — Recession
Style’? on Tuesday, Oct. 8 from 7
to 9:30 p.m.

Karen Curry, a private design
consultant with 10 years of expe-
rience, will present basic principles
of home decoration.

Participants will learn ways to
decorate or redecorate their homes
using what they own and without
having to spend a lot of money on
added materials.

Topics will include color,
lighting ideas, furniture arrange-
ment and accessories.

The workshop is beirig held at
the West Vancouver YMCA,
which is located at 1735 [n-
glewood Ave.

For more information call 926-
554},

HIGH PROFILES
An educating nurse

Inge Schamborzki speaks out on
the role of nurses in health care

NAME: Inge Schamberzki

BORN: (West) Germany
RESIDENCE: West Vancouver
EDUCATION: Doctor of Educa-
tion, McGill University, Bachelor
of Science in Nursing, McGill
University

OCCUPATION: President of the
Registered Nurses Association of
B.C., vice-president, nursing,
Vancouver General Hospital
FAMILY: Married; expecting first
child in December
HOBBIES: Walking,
reading

hiking,

Schamborzki says nurses have
to work harder to rid themselves
of the hand maiden stereotype —
white-capped women giving
sponge baths, bailing out bedpans
and fluffling piilows.

“While that’s important,’’ she
points out, “‘that’s only a very
small part of nursing. While
they’re doing those things, they’re
assessing how the person is
relating to their illness. Those are
things people can’t see. And pa-
gents don’t necessarily know what
we've done.””

The role of nurses has evolved
since they first entered the medical
stage. Once embodied by the
Florence Nightingale-inspired
myth of attending angel, nurses
ere becoming more and more
specialized and venturing into new
fields.

If you drove a Saturn SL1 before see-
ing its sticker, chances are you'd think
it costs twice as much — because it
handles more like a European touring

Last month UBC accepted two
students into its first-ever PhD
program in nursing (only the Uni-
versity of Alberta and McGill
University in Montreal currently
offer doctoral degrees), and more
are becoming involved in research,
albeit gradually.

These strides are important
because Schamborzki believes
nurses will play an expanded role
as Canada’s health care system

enters a new decade, one in which
the aging population will put in-
creasing pressure on an already
burdened structure.

Schamborzki is a firm believer
in keeping patients out of hospital
whenever possible. For such a
system to work, government funds
must be reallocated to provide
more support services, such as

See More page 35

NEWS photo Neii Lucente

DR. INGE Schamborzki, ex-
pecting her first child in
December, is the new
president of the Registered
Nurses Association of 8.C.

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