Local Journalism Initiative
Jasper’s Treasures: Lynda Betkowski
Her practical and gentle manner has been the hallmark of Lynda Betkowski throughout her life, including a long career as a nurse and travel. Betkowski was born in Mimico, Ontario. on December 3, 1937 for Marion and William Ruse. Her sister Patricia was born on April 24, 1940. The Ruse family lived near Port Credit until Betkowski finished fourth grade. Betkowski’s father worked for Bell Telephone and that meant that the Ruses moved around a lot. Betkowski finished elementary school in London. Later, at the school in Belle River, Ontario, the student population was about 200, half French and half English. For three summers before graduating, Betkowski said, “I worked in the summer at Grace Salvation Army Hospital in Windsor, in the kitchen, washing dishes.” At that time, Betkowski said that the main career options were being a secretary, a nurse or a teacher. “I didn’t think of myself as a secretary or teacher.” One day, when she was scrubbing pots and pans, the director of nursing called Betkowski into her office. It had nothing to do with dishes, she found out. “She encouraged me to go into nursing and advised that a degree in that area would be needed in the future,” said Betkowski. This visit was impactful enough to encourage Betkowski to start nursing studies at the University of Toronto that fall of 1956, the year he graduated from high school. She said the routine of education has changed considerably since then. “At that time, we didn’t go home in the summer,” said Betkowski. “We were assigned to several hospitals in the region to gain experience. We went to the Toronto General Hospital to have medical-surgical experience. I vividly remember the long ward on College Street. We also went to Mount Sinai for obstetrics and Hamilton’s Sanatorium for tuberculosis. It was the last place where the Inuit came from the north to receive treatment for tuberculosis. That was in 1958. ”Armed with a lot of knowledge, Betkowski graduated in nursing in 1960. After four years of hard work, it was time to relax, get some rest. It really wasn’t. “You didn’t do that then,” said Betkowski. “I worked for two years for the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) at the East York office in Toronto. I was (doing) a home visit. ”Betkowski had been sent there to gain experience during her final year of university in the summer. During home visits, Betkowski said: “We had to do insulin injections, bathe in bed. We boil syringes and needles for these injections, in people’s homes ”. In 1961, Betkowski married Ronald Steers, who was in Toronto training to be an Anglican minister. After three years, he was assigned to work at Edmonton Cathedral to complete a curatorship. “While we were in Edmonton, I worked with VON again – they needed people, too,” said Betkowski. “Edmonton was very different then. I didn’t know it was a place I wanted to stay, but we both knew that another place would come. ”Steers was ordained an Anglican minister in May 1965. It was at that time that an Anglican minister was needed in Jasper and they went to the city in the mountains. Her son Roger was born in 1966. Betkowski stayed at home to raise Roger until 1972. At that time, she and Ronald were divorced. At that time, too, Betkowski’s nursing record had expired. “So, I had to take one of these refresher courses at Grant MacEwan Community College (GMCC) to enroll again,” she said. “It was a one-month course, in the winter of 1972, through the Alberta Registered Nurses Association.” This allowed Betkowski to return to work in the field of nursing and, in the summer of 1973, continued the career started years ago, at Seton General Hospital. But it was not a joyful start. “This experience was terrible because a lot has happened in medicine all those years,” said Betkowski. “There was a lot to learn. The GMCC course did not help much. ”Fortunately, help came in the form of two co-workers who became Betkowski’s mentors: Edith Gourley, a registered nurse, and Marg Sand, a practical nurse. “In the first year, I worked with them at night,” recalled Betkowski, “because you can learn more at night”. In May 1974, the new hospital was opened and Betkowski was blessed with two more mentors there: Sheila Vuksanovich and Donna Lane, both registered nurses. “Finally, I found that the place where I was most happy was the operating room,” she said. “Whenever surgery was in progress, it was a combination of Sheila, Donna or me helping. We take turns to be on duty at night. ”Betkowski noted that the schedule changed when midwifery went to Hinton and the surgery went elsewhere in the late 1980s. Her new husband, Dr. George Betkowski, whom she married in 1986, retired in the mid-1980s. 80. She and George lived on a ranch in Dunster, BC “So I worked a little bit on Jasper and a little bit on McBride, BC,” she said. “And we spent winters in Puerto Vallarta from late November to late February.” Betkowski returned to Jasper after she and George divorced in 1989. “There have always been job openings here,” she said. “I didn’t work full time. I was doing everything that was necessary. In a small hospital, you have to do everything. ”Betkowski said there was a long-term care ward in the hospital during the 1990s.“ The cottage did not exist then. I asked to work at night. I preferred the nights. ”During the 12-hour shifts, Betkowski said:“ I was primarily treating outpatients and emergencies. If nothing was happening in that area, you helped in the ward ”. After a long career in nursing, Betkowski retired on January 4, 2001. “When I left the hospital’s front door, computers were coming in through the back door,” she joked. “I was afraid of them. It was something new. ”But the diligent lady kept the door open. “That summer, Dr. Jill Konkin was influential at the clinic and I said to her, ‘If you need help in the summer, when tourists are here, I wouldn’t mind doing what you need’. So, that summer, I did assistance work for the person who was the nurse at the clinic. I learned from her what the nurse’s responsibility was at the clinic. ”When that nurse finished working there, Betkowski had to decide whether she wanted the job herself or whether she would remain a social worker. “I decided to take up the position of a full-time nurse at the clinic and worked there for 13 years,” she said. “I loved.” Computers have obviously become an integral part of the clinic’s operation. Betkowski said she was blessed again with wonderful coworkers, especially Katie Poirier, and although she did not take a computer course, she learned valuable skills from Poirier and the rest of her co-workers. With the decades he worked, Betkowski “met second generation people, even third generation. I’m known as ‘Lynda B.’ because it’s easier to say. “” It was amazing how one door closes and another opens – all my life, “said Betkowski. “I never looked for work. Everything seemed to fall into my lap as I continued. I am particularly grateful for that, including the need to know how to work with computers, to the point where I can do things at home now. ”Betkowski retired from the clinic in September 2014.“ The main reason was my health, ”she said. “I have mobility problems. I use a walker and a cane. ”Betkowski said she is known for traveling. “From 1975 onwards, I traveled whenever I had a chance, first with my mother, who was a good appraiser of places to go,” she said. “I have been to Russia seven times. I went around the world three times on ships, usually with tour groups. ”Betkowski likes the clean air and the landscape of the area and the small-town atmosphere. “And it’s the feeling of community that you have in a small town,” she said. “It is good to be able to walk on the street, meet people, talk to people. I continue to travel, even with a cane and a walker, but Jasper is at home. ”Joanne McQuarrie, Reporter for the Local Journalism Initiative, Jasper Fitzhugh