The Resident's Eye View

When you first walk down the halls of Mission Terrace, it almost seems like you’re walking back into the past. Now, I don’t mean that Mission Terrace doesn’t have the latest and best medical equipment, because it does. And the luxurious surroundings are timeless rather than old-fashioned. But there is a sense of the past, and it soon becomes apparent what is creating that sense.

It’s the uniforms.

Nurses wear the classic white nurse uniforms, right down to the caps that were de rigueur until about 25-30 years ago. Nurses’ aides also wear spotless, smooth white uniforms. Chefs wear chef hats, and servers are dressed formally. Even the front office staff are quickly identifiable by their stylish black ensembles.

One might think that this dress code is overly formal, even quaint. But to me, it’s clear what the rationale is for doing this. Many patients here are elderly, and these uniforms are symbolic to them. A nurse looks like what they remember a nurse looks like. They come from an earlier era, and this style of dress respects that past. 

Even I, who am somewhat younger, find the dress to be comforting and refreshingly “old-school”. My late mother was a nurse, and I remember seeing pictures of her in the old-fashioned uniform she wore before she left nursing to raise a family. She went back to work after everyone was grown up and off into the world, and she wore the scrubs that, by then, all nurses were wearing. But I think that the uniforms used here would have brought a smile to her face. These outfits represent a tradition of caring and respect that Mission Terrace fulfills on a daily basis.

MTR