Yellowknife (July 30/04) - Long time Yellowknifers will remember the old Stanton Yellowknife Hospital. The single storey, "cottage" style facility is no more than a memory these days, but in 1969 it was only two years old.

Twenty-eight nurses and health care professionals who worked at the hospital from 1969 to 1973 recently got together in Canmore, Alta., to remember those old days in Yellowknife.

"We all came up here single, we all met our husbands here," said Evelyn Smith, a nurse who has worked in Yellowknife for more than 30 years. Most of the women at the reunion still work in health care today, but many left Yellowknife and the group is now spread out across Canada.

But it is not some aversion to Yellowknife that sent them away. In fact, it was a sense of adventure that brought them up here in the first place.

"It was the call of the North," Smith said.

Things were different then. The mines were in full swing and Yellowknife was growing.

With around 8,000 people in Yellowknife the relatively small hospital had its hands full. There was a learning curve for all the staff.

"We learned real fast because we had to learn," Smith said.

Things were hectic at work, but the group still found time to hang out.

"We partied a lot," Smith said. She hastens to point out the group always, "maintained our professional status."

With 30 years between them and Stanton Yellowknife Hospital, most are starting to think about retirement, but they won't forget the early days of their careers. They are already planning another reunion five years down the road.