Sisters remain sisters

It is a long table in the restaurant at Bethesda Hospital where elderly ladies sit down after greeting each other warmly. They are all former nursing staff - and apart from the former director Alfred Steiner (1980-2004), a former security officer and a man from the accounting department, they are all women.

The tradition of this meeting began in 1998. "The cohesion is excellent, nurses are like one big family," says Mrs Seiler proudly and with conviction. The cheerful demeanour of Sister Superior Vroni Hofer, who is wearing her classic dress, is striking. "Statistically, nuns live longer because they have fewer worries. We never lose a partner and we are cared for until we die". This joie de vivre is infectious and the group is harmonious and cheerful.

Bethesda Hospital was opened in 1939. In contrast to today, patients used to stay longer in hospital and were much less demanding. There was no toilet in the room and there were always several patients per room. It is also astonishing that the nursing profession was not as popular back then as it is today. And what was more than just remarkable back then was that the hospital manager knew all the names of all the staff by heart...

In the days of the June meeting of the former Bethesda nurses, the Women's Strike Day was organised in Switzerland. All the women present mentioned with unmistakable pride that they had all taken part in the first women's strike on 14 June 1991. The hospital director at the time, Alfred Steiner, had not forbidden anyone to do so and the nurses themselves had been responsible for organising and ensuring the hospital's operation. Different times!

The original article was published in the neighbourhood magazine Mii Quartier.
www.mii-quartier.ch