Glasgow nurse's move to the US was life-changing - but she never forgot the 'Vicky'

Her early career at the Victoria Infirmary paved the way for a ‘temporary’ move to the US – which changed her life.

Here, she talks to ANN FOTHERINGHAM about moving halfway across the world and meeting the love of her life...

AFTER around 18 months working at the Victoria Infirmary, newly qualified nurse Dorothy Browne had a conversation with a colleague which - although she had no idea at the time - was to change her life.

“One of the girls I trained and qualified with told me about a letter she’d received from some nurses from Glasgow who had gone over to work at Harris Hospital in Fort Worth Texas,” says Dorothy.

“They said they were having a great time and added ‘you should come over here, lassies.’

“My friend and I had been working as staff nurses in the Victoria since we’d qualified. Through a link between the two hospitals, we got to hear how to organise the contracts and visas, and that everything would be paid for.

“It felt like a big step but we figured it was the chance to visit another part of the world, and it was only for a year…”

Dorothy left Glasgow in October 1971.

“It was so hot when we arrived,” she recalls. “In the airport, we saw men wearing cowboy hats and boots….it was a different world.

“Once we got settled in, we got our apartment and met the other Scottish and Irish nurses. We had to learn all over again as nursing there was very different. We were expected to start IVs (intravenous drips) for example and we didn’t do the more practical things like bed baths.”

She smiles: “I once heard an ICU patient tell one of the Irish nurses that ‘you foreign nurses are different than the American ones, as you lean down and talk in our ear to soothe us, whereas American nurses just give us a shot…’”

Dorothy laughs. “That was a bit of an exaggeration. There was a huge shortage of nurses in the hospital and that’s why nurses from Scotland, England and Ireland were recruited.

“The Texas nurses used to jokingly call us ‘them damn foreign nurses’ but the patients loved us.

“We really did get along well with most of the Texas nurses, we just had to learn each other’s ways of doing things.”

After working in Texas for a year, Dorothy came home to Glasgow, but she found it difficult to settle back into life at home.

“I went back to Fort Worth and worked as an assistant head nurse (staff nurse) - and then decided once again I was going back to Glasgow,” she says.

“I had my ticket and was all packed then I got very ill, turned out I had infectious hepatitis and couldn’t go anywhere. I was put on three weeks bed rest.”

During her convalescence, a young man who was in Dorothy’s bible study group kept her company by calling her on the phone.

“His name was Gary Head, and he worked nights, so we talked most days, usually for hours,” smiles Dorothy.

“After my bed rest stint was over, I was not allowed to go out, so the group came to our apartment and we would hang out. Once I was well enough to go out, Gary and I started dating.”

She smiles: “We have now been married for 46 years.”

Dorothy and Gary married in August, 1975, and a Scottish piper played as the bride walked down the aisle.

“We have two grown-up children and two grandsons,” she says. “I was able to be a stay-at-home mum for 13 years and then returned work at a private school for children with average or above average IQ. who had some kind of learning difference like dyslexia or ADHD.”

While working at the school, Dorothy’s life took another turn.

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer after my routine annual mammogram, when I was 50 years of age,” she says.

“After my first year and a half as a survivor, I heard that my oncologist was looking for a Breast Cancer Patient Navigator, so I interviewed for the job. It was a huge step for me because I had worked at the school for fifteen and a half years and I loved it there. The parents, staff and faculty had been so good to me, especially when I had breast cancer - they were my family then because my own family were still in Scotland.”

Dorothy was subsequently diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and she has since retired from the role as navigator.

“Gary had already retired, so I decided to retire too,” she explains.

READ MORE: Remembering Bert Jansch - 'one of the greats' of the folk world

Dorothy is keen to hear from anyone who remembers the puma mural which used to reside in the entranceway of the old Victoria Infirmary - now transformed into flats.

Does anyone know what happened to the mural? The puma is also on the nurses’ badges at the Victoria - do any Times Past readers know why?

Dorothy has many happy memories of nursing in Glasgow.

“I found a picture recently, of me about to do an IV at Harris Hospital,” says Dorothy. “My uniform is different, of course, but you can see I still have on my Vicky lace cap.

“You were allowed to wear the cap of the nursing school you trained at – although nowadays no one wears white or caps, just scrubs.”

She adds: “I was very proud of my lace cap, and I’ll never forget the Vicky.”