Little Sisters of the Poor

Back in the late 60's and early 70's I lived in Phoenix, Arizona and worked at St. Joseph's Hospital in their x-ray department.



St. Joseph's Hospital is operated by the Sisters of Mercy nuns.   The nuns were very nice.   The only nun that I can remember right  off-hand was Sister Mary Ralph who was in charge of the Emergency Department.   All the nuns wore "habits" that look like the one below.   The picture below is not of Sister Mary Ralph.

I think that it was more practical than the older bulky "habits".

While I worked at the hospital I also did volunteer work for the Little Sisters of the Poor.  

They operated what I would call a nursing home in Phoenix.   It was located just south of St. Joseph's Hospital.   The nursing home was excellent.   I remember that their "habits" were a bit more bulkier than the Sisters of Mercy.

The nuns were absolutely super nice.   They had really kind hearts. 

I was an x-ray technician and when they needed me they would call me at the Radiology Department of St. Joseph Hospital.   They would call me when a patient may have gotten injured, say falling down.   They had an x-ray machine and developing dark room right there at the nursing home.   I would leave the hospital (I had been given permission by the supervisor), drive to the nursing home, take the x-ray, drive back to the hospital , and have one of our hospital radiologists examine the x-ray to see if there was anything wrong.   Then the radiologist would write a handwritten report.   I would take the report and the x-ray back to the nursing home and give it to the nuns.   Fortunately, all of the patients that I x-rayed at the Little Sisters of the Poor nursing home were okay.   I really enjoyed doing the volunteer work at the nuns nursing home.    I just had the feeling that by helping the nuns I may have been doing a little bit of God's work.   Of course, the nuns were doing a whole lot of God's work.   Working with the nuns both at St. Joseph's Hospital and Little Sisters of the Poor made me feel good about myself.   I considered that it was an honor and a privilege.    I worked at St. Joseph's Hospital for 10 years and enjoyed every minute.