Augusta Barter

Augusta Barter (née Blundon) (1909 – July 8, 1999) was a Canadian nurse. She was noted for her care and compassion as she attended to her patients in the face of limited resources and lack of doctors in rural Newfoundland.

Born in Bay de Verde, Newfoundland, she graduated from nursing at the Grace General Hospital, St. John's in 1933. She served as District Health Nurse at Hant's Harbour until 1935 and then returned to Bay de Verde. She married William Barter and raised a family of six girls, provided much needed medical service to the residents of Bay de Verde and the neighbouring communities, also found time to help her husband in the fishery and operate a small store.

Augusta delivered hundreds of babies but never lost a baby nor a mother. She would also accompany patients to Old Perlican Cottage Hospital on horse and slide. When Dr. Wilkinson came to the community to visit the sick he would often ask Agusta to accompany him. The many thousands of hours Mrs. Barter devoted to helping her fellow citizens were given without any thought of receiving payment. In 1982, at the first Bay de Verde Day celebrations, Agusta was named Citizen of the Year for her 50 years of devotion to helping her fellow citizens.

Augusta was made a Member of the Order of Canada on October 23, 1989 and invested on April 18, 1990. She was well-respected by her fellow citizens of Bay de Verde, a dedicated outpost nurse where she spent the greater part of her life attending to the medical needs of her community. In a time of limited resources, when there were few doctors, inadequate medical equipment and primitive methods of transportation, she selflessly gave of herself to care for the welfare of countless Newfoundlanders. She was also the recipient of the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award.

ee also

* List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador

Some excerpts from the book "Surviving on the Headland" by Donald Barter