Lorraine Evans was only 19 years old when she started working at Lort Smith as a vet nurse, with no training, in the 1970s.
"Back then, parents thought that only boys needed an education. So at 16, I went to work at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. While there, I decided I wanted to be a vet nurse. No one typed in those days, I handwrote God knows how many resumes and sent them off to every vet in town!" laughs Lorraine.
Lorraine found science interesting, and says she must have had some kind of natural technical talent, as she used to do surgery on day-old mice.
At the time, there was no veterinary nursing course, so Lorraine enrolled in the brand-new Animal Technical course at Box Hill TAFE (four years part-time) while still at Walter and Eliza Hall.
"I had an interview at Lort Smith and got the job. They put me with Joan Humphries, a female vet, to learn from. She showed me how to correctly hold the different animals, how to scrub up and how to set up the operating theatre," explains Lorraine.
We were so busy, it was like animal MASH.
Lorraine
Animal MASH
Lorraine worked 13-hour days, from 8:30am to 9:30pm, and remembers being paid about $30 a week when she started.
"If there was a big emergency that couldn't wait til the next day, like stuck puppies, pyometra or a twisted stomach, there would be nights I'd be still cleaning at 11pm and due back early the next morning. We were so busy, it was like animal MASH. I learnt that young people are very resilient," says Lorraine.
During Lorraine's time, the entire staff was two "office ladies", four vets, four vet nurses, two people in the cattery and six in the kennels, a tea lady named Jean and a yard man named Harry.
"Back then, we didn't take appointments. People would just turn up, check-in at the office and the office ladies were expected to know what was an emergency! We would use index cards and nurses had to remain with their assigned vet for the full 13 hour shift. We were not to leave their side and told our very first priority was 'don't let the vets get bitten!' Vet nurses really are instrumental," says Lorraine.
Lorraine's main duties were surgical nursing, consult nursing, dispensing drugs and taking X-rays, including developing them by hand in the darkroom.
"I liked working in the theatre most. We would bring in cassette tapes and sing along to Abba and Joan Baez," smiles Lorraine.
Leading the times
"I think Lort Smith reaching 85 years is absolutely wonderful and I think it has kept up with the times. NO – it has led the times! I'm proud I was a part of the evolution of Lort Smith. Things were tough back then, but they were good."
"Louisa Lort Smith was obviously an animal lover, there cannot be any doubt about that. Her heart was always in the right place and Lort Smith did a lot of things early on in regards to education. Like promoting the abolishment of traps, handing out fact sheets about the exponential population growth of cats if you didn't have them desexed, the importance of vaccinations – during my era, there was lots of distemper and feline enteritis," remembers Lorraine.
"Overall, Lort Smith back then provided low cost, mostly very successful treatments to thousands of animals who otherwise would have missed out. I think the strays and staff were victims of the prevailing circumstances of the time – the tail end of the biggest Depression Australia has ever had. Lort Smith did a magnificent job despite this and I feel proud to have been a part of it," says Lorraine.