White Dress and White Shoes
by Shirley A. Ramaley
I worked for thirty-five years as a registered Medical Technologist,
in hospital laboratories and clinics. Graduating in 1959 with my B.S.,
I usually I worked the evening or night shift and was often up on the
floor, collecting blood samples, which I then took to the lab to
analyze. The hospital operator would call over the intercom, “Lab
Girl! Lab Girl!”
I’d rush to find a phone and learn what floor I was needed on to
collect blood, or what other emergency waited for me. And we were all
“girls” in those years. Guys wouldn’t work for the wages hospitals
paid then.
As I recall, I earned less than $300 a month. I do remember I made
less than my husband’s receptionist. I like receptionists. I just
thought that with a five-year degree and the responsibility for a
patient’s health, and possibly life, I should earn more.
I wore a white dress and shoes. They were required, period, no
exceptions. One night, in freezing weather, I wore white slacks and a
white top. The lab supervisor heard about it and said she’d have to
let me go if I did that again! It wasn’t until years later that
“girls” were allowed to wear white pants.
Personnel ads in the newspaper advertised jobs for men and women in
separate sections. There were many jobs only for men. Then there were
jobs that men apparently didn’t want, and those were advertised for
women.
Labs did not provide latex gloves or lab coats. If we got blood from
specimens on our white dresses, we washed them at home. There were
minimal safety procedures.
Mercury was used in one of the lab procedures, and we physically
handled the mercury every shift. Often it would spill, so I’d just
take my hand and sweep it into a drawer. Benzene was another chemical
used in the labs. Now a known carcinogen, we handled it with our
hands, and used it nearly every shift for occult blood tests.
Many of us became infected with hepatitis B, a very serious liver
infection. This virus lives for many months on dried counter tops. We
didn’t know then that we should use bleach to clean the counters, or
wear latex gloves (there weren’t any), or leave our lab coats at work
for the hospital to sterilize (they wouldn’t, and we wore dresses then
anyway).
When I became infected with hepatitis B I was off work for two months,
and very jaundiced and sick. Today there is a good vaccine, and lab
personnel are encouraged to get vaccinated. Now all labs provide latex
gloves. Mercury and benzene are no longer used in routine lab tests.
Lab coats are taken care of by the hospital or clinic. They are no
longer taken home.
There have been many changes since the 1950’s and 60’s. Not all have
been good, and there are things I miss about the 50’s, but changes in
clinical labs have been for the better.
