Tales from Kentucky Nurses

by William Lynwood Montell

c.2015, University Press of Kentucky $24.95 / higher in Canada 281 pages

The procedure didn’t hurt at all.

That was a pleasant surprise. You were prepared for pain but that never happened. And it didn’t even take as long as you anticipated.

Ah, the wonders of modern medicine! It’s nothing like it was when you were a child, naturally, but as you’ll see in the new book Tales from Kentucky Nurses by William Lynwood Montell, there’s much more to the story.

Remember when doctors made house calls? It’s not unheard-of today, but it’s rare. So

imagine your medical care arriving on horseback from a professional who stayed for a few days to ensure your recovery. That was what residents of many mountain counties in Kentucky used to expect.

From the 1920s until as recent as the early 1970s, it was often impossible to practice medicine as usual: many Appalachian homes were inaccessible by road, indoor plumbing was sometimes scarce, and medical facilities were far apart. This book is filled with oral histories from nurses who worked under those conditions in both the Frontier Nursing Service and in small-town Kentucky hospitals and clinics.

In rural areas, as many nurses point out, folk remedies and home treatments were often used instead of modern medicine. That led to medical complaints and attempted cures that major hospitals would never see today. In a few stories here, you’ll read about people who had never seen a doctor in their lives, until situations became dire.

You’ll read tales of babies born at home or in a neighbor’s house, sometimes with a midwife’s help and sometimes not. Superstitious beliefs often show up in these stories, and you’ll read about tragedy as well as joy.

Here, you’ll read of nurses who stood up to authority, and why. Payment, for some of the nurses here, was made in eggs or meat – if payment even came. Patient care was often simple and low-tech. Pantsuits were forbidden, nurses were expected to stand when a physician walked in, white stockings were mandatory, and caps were “pinned neatly to our hair.” People (including doctors) still smoked in the hospital. One nurse tells of a calf being named in her honor. And one mourns because “nurses are human and we can’t save everyone.”

There’s something to be said about walking a mile in someone’s shoes – which is easy to do when you read Tales from Kentucky Nurses.

Through interviews with local individuals who can tell their favorite stories and oral histories collected from other sources, author William Lynwood Montell takes readers back as far as 90 years in Kentucky medicine and culture in stories of varying length and emotion. I was captivated by the breadth of experience inside this book, and by the memories of nurses whose work would otherwise be unsung.

Be aware that tales are often not edited, which might be challenging but which preserves particular language nuances. And that, of course, is what you want in an oral history book so find a chair, find Tales from Kentucky Nurses and, well, you know the procedure.

Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri is a professional book reviewer who has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book.