After 34 years as a nurse at Hanover Park Day Hospital sister Kathleen Engel (56) from Grassy Park retired on Tuesday 31 January.
The first thing she did on Wednesday was to go to the Grand Parade to walk among the stalls and just soak up the atmosphere with the knowledge that she is now a retiree.
“Nursing was not my first choice as a career, I wanted to be a policewoman. I am born and bred in Hanover Park and attended Summit Primary School and Crystal High. In the late 80s, during the uprising, I was forced to write my matric at Wingfield Army base in Goodwood and not at the school. During apartheid, you could only study to be a teacher, social worker, or police officer and because I could not make up my mind after matric what to do, my mother took me by the hand to the Nico Malan Nursing College in Athlone and enrolled me as a student nurse. Becoming a policewoman was no option after I was enrolled,” she says.
Once she started her training as a pupil-nurse at Conradie Hospital in Pinelands in 1986, she never looked back.
“I believe becoming a nurse was in God’s plan. I progressed from being a pupil nurse to a staff nurse at Conradie before I joined Groote Schuur Hospital for two years to become a sister. In August 1989, I started at Hanover Park Day Hospital as a general nurse. I applied at Maties to do my diploma in midwifery and after two years, I completed my advanced midwifery degree at Maties.
“To be a midwife is a calling and I have a passion for bringing children into this world. You must remember I am the first person who holds the baby in my hands after the birth before the baby is handed over to the mother. Sometimes birth is not plain sailing, especially when the baby is premature and you have to resuscitate the baby. The expression on a mother’s face when she holds her baby for the first time is something you cannot explain to another person and all the pain the mom experienced through birth is forgotten after she holds her baby,” Engel says.
She stayed at the day hospital because she wanted to serve her community plagued by all the social ills.
“Teenage pregnancies are one of the social ills in Hanover Park and it is heartbreaking to see the mothers are on drugs and have babies every year. Because everyone knows everyone in Hanover Park I am not surprised that moms and moms-to-be would knock on my door all hours of the day for assistance if they found out they are pregnant. I help them if they want the baby to be adopted if the parent or the family aren’t able to provide for the child,” she says.
Sometimes she hears from grandmothers coming to see her daughter and grandchild, that she delivered her a long time ago.
“I cannot remember all the babies I helped into the world and it is heart-warming to hear from new moms or grannies that I helped them into the world a long time ago. With premature babies I have resuscitated through the years, the mothers would bring the baby back three or four months later and I would be surprised how much the baby has grown over that period.
“My family consists of four brothers and four sisters and three of us are retired now. The retirees, Shane, Jean and I are going to Dubai, Thailand and Bali in July,” Engel says.
She is contemplating teaching at Maties as part of the first-year student’s introduction to nursing.“My sister Melanie is teaching at Maties and I am hoping to start in January (next year) with a group of first-year nursing students and travel the road with them until they complete their nursing diploma or degree.
“On Saturday 18 February I am hosting a pool party in Grassy Park to bid farewell to my colleagues at Hanover Park Day Hospital to thank them for their friendships and the ups-and-downs we shared through the years,” Engel says.
Although she played netball in her youth, she only learned to swim at 40 years. Her other hobby is knitting and she loves the beach.
“My advice to today’s youth is to think about what you are going to do after matric. Don’t follow a course/diploma just for the sake of having a piece of paper in your hand, find your passion and follow your dreams. Work is scarce and look out for jobs where you will be in demand after school because nowadays you cannot complete matric and sit at home,” she says.
She is a mother of two adult kids and a grandmother, but her focus is now on how to spend the time she has on hand at her leisure. Travelling is first on the list and she’ll decide where to next after her trip in July.
