Over the years, more than 4,000 nursing graduates had made the symbolic walk down the front stairs of the Civic, red rose in hand after graduating from The Ottawa Civic Hospital School of Nursing. Among them was Ruth Thomson (née Affleck) who knew from a very early age that she was destined to become a nurse.
“As a little girl, all my dolls had bandages, incision lines, and marks of trauma, all inflicted by this would-be nurse,” Ruth wrote in her book entitled From Black Shoes to Red Roses.
Ruth enrolled in 1958, paying $100 tuition over two years, which included uniforms, room, and board. She received her red rose and white shoes on June 1, 1960, and says, if she had the chance, would choose nursing all over again.
“It was a decision I never regretted and a choice I would repeat in spite of the many professions and opportunities offered to women at this time.”
Ruth adds that the Civic has served our area well over the last century but is excited about the Campaign to Create Tomorrow and the creation of a new world-class healthcare facility.
