Trudy Hotson was born Gertrude Hutchison in Dryden on May 17, 1922
She completed her elementary school studies in Dryden and graduated from DHS in June 1940.
She entered the Faculty of Nursing at The St. Boniface School of Nursing and graduated as a Registered Nurse (RN) in 1944. She was Valedictorian of her class.
Trudy continued her studies and completed the post graduate Nursing Program at the Brandon Psychiatric Hospital in Brandon, Manitoba (1945). From there, she went to the University of Manitoba (1947-1948) to study Teaching and Supervision in Schools of Nursing. There were two components to her graduate work. First she was to complete a six month practicum at the Westchester Division of the New York Hospital. This was followed by a number of visits to various public, private and teaching hospitals in the United States. Her assignment was to write a dissertation comparing the care received at public and private hospitals.
The Westchester Hospital was a private psychiatric institution where many of the patients were from wealthy and politically powerful families. While in the New York hospital, she had the chance to meet with Eleanor Roosevelt who was visiting the hospital at the time.
A second notable hospital that she visited was the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. Here Trudy met and studied under the leadership of Dr. Karl Menninger who was a leading psychiatrist at the time and was the mental health professional attached to the US military during the Second World War.
After completing her graduate degree she returned to the Brandon Psychiatric Hospital as a nursing instructor and later became Educational Director.
In 1953 Trudy settled in Penticton, British Columbia. There she was instrumental in the formation of the Penticton Branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and in 1959 became the first president of that organization. She also served several terms as president of the British Columbia Mental Health Association and was Chairman of the Educational Committee of the National Canadian Mental Health Association
From the onset of her professional training, she held the strong personal belief that nursing should concentrate on the treatment of the whole person and not just the treatment of the illness itself. This whole person philosophy eventually became known as the holistic approach to primary care nursing.
In her many years as a nurse, there is one particular story that happened in Dryden and that must be told. A patient was admitted to the Dryden Red Cross hospital with a psychiatric disorder. While at the hospital the patient managed to evade the custody of her caregivers. This caused a real panic that resulted in the local police and firemen to undertake a massive search to locate this patient. It was Trudy herself who found the patient trembling with fear and huddled in a corner of a room in the nurses residence. Trudy sat down, put her arms around the patient and held her until she relaxed enough to return to the hospital.
Mrs. Hotson has two children, Richard and Laura and two grandchildren William and Sarah. She passed away in November 2008 with her family at her side.
