Sick leave followed by holiday postponed my first meeting with C, the Modern Matron of the Gynaecology ward, but it finally happened yesterday. I was a bit nervous, not quite knowing what she was expecting or whether she would understand my sort of art. Brian at Lime said he had just mentioned me to her, so that wasn’t much help! In the end I decided to just meet her as human being, not a potential commissioner.
When I arrived, C was busy so I hovered in the doorway, not sure whether to go into her office, but once she was finished, her welcome was warm and friendly. She remembered that I was interested in miscarriage and still birth so I told her a bit about my work, and then asked about hers.
C is in charge of two gynaecology wards which cover issues around the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, as well as gynaecological diseases. After 20 weeks, pregnant women move on to obstetrics, which looks after them up to the birth. On the gynaecology ward they deal with terminations, miscarriage and fertility problems. What a potent mixture! The women are all treated in the same ward, and I asked if that is ever a problem. She said no, that the women keep to themselves and are usually in and out before they can form connections with each other.
I was interested in what C said about the staff’s experience. They may be dealing with a termination one minute and a miscarriage the next. This can be very emotionally draining, and the staff’s individual experience can add to the mix.
I told C that my work is not usually the sort of thing you can hang on a wall, and that I work a lot with feelings and emotion. I was able to tell her about my background in counselling. She seemed open to me spending some time on the wards, and seeing what happens. I’ve asked for a few days shadowing staff, to get a sense of what goes on there, maybe followed by some one to one conversations, and that’s already been ok’d by her boss.
I thought about putting off the shadowing for a while, since I have the Flood installation and Flood Walk this week, and Tern Collective are in the middle of proposals, but the sooner I get started, the less time I’ll have to worry about it, so I’ve offered a couple of days next week!
