Pamela Joy Spry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pamela Joy Spry

AM
A smiling young white woman, with dark hair, wearing a white uniform
Pamela Joy Spry, from a 1947 class photo
Born(1924-12-10)10 December 1924
Adelaide
Died8 January 2021(2021-01-08) (aged 96)
Adelaide
OccupationNurse

Pamela Joy Spry AM (10 December 1924 – 8 January 2021) was an Australian nurse. She was director of nursing at the Royal Adelaide Hospital from 1973 to 1984.

Early life[]

Spry was born in Adelaide, and trained as a nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital from 1945 to 1947.[1][2] She also had midwifery training in Sydney.[3]

Career[]

Spry worked at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide as a young woman.[3][4] She was Director of Nursing at the Royal Adelaide Hospital from 1973 to 1984. Among the policies advanced during her tenure as director, nurses were no longer required to wear the traditional nurse's cap or white stockings while on duty; nurses in residence were no longer required to register their absences; and nurses were encouraged and supported to earn college degrees in their field.[5] "I wanted nurses to no longer be seen by anyone as 'handmaidens' to the doctors but to begin to become their equal," she later recalled.[6] Spry served on the South Australia Health Commission, the education committee of the Nurses' Board, and the South Australian branch of the Australian Nursing Federation.[1]

Spry achieved the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps in 1955.[7] In 1988, she became a member of the Order of Australia (AM), in the general division.[8] She gave an oral history interview to the J. D. Somerville Oral History Collection at the State Library of South Australia in 1989.[3]

Personal life[]

Spry used a wheelchair in her later years.[6] She died in 2021, aged 96 years, in Adelaide.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Secomb, Robin; National Foundation for Australian Women. "Spry, Pamela Joy". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 2021-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Nurses' Examination Results". Advertiser. 1947-11-28. Retrieved 2021-12-05 – via Trove.
  3. ^ a b c Durdin, Joan (1989). "Interview with Pamela Joy Spry [sound recording]". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 2021-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Harding, Philip (February 2021). "Editor's Letter" (PDF). MedicSA. 34: 6.
  5. ^ a b "Pamela J Spry AM". Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation SA Branch. Retrieved 2021-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ a b "Let the champions of our past inspire our future". Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation SA Branch. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 2021-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "Australian Military Forces; Central Command". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 1955-11-10. Retrieved 2021-12-05 – via Trove.
  8. ^ "Australia Day Honours List". The Canberra Times. 26 January 1988. p. 11. Retrieved December 4, 2021 – via Trove.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""