Nurse, Give Me A Pill For Death by Aldona Grupas

Nurse, Give Me a Pill for Death is an autobiographical account of one nurse’s journey from Lithuania to England, where she builds a new life focused on caring for the sick and elderly.

Author Aldona Grupas describes her journey from the Baltic to “Foggy Albion” and the obstacles she overcomes in the search for work as a qualified nurse in an alien culture.

The book also provides insights into the work of nursing assistants and nurses, and the challenges and rewards of helping those in the last stages of life.

The story opens with Aldona, having qualified as a nurse, dreaming of leaving Lithuania to settle elsewhere in Europe. Learning that nurses are in great demand in England, she takes language classes and registers with employment agencies along with her husband, who is a doctor. She is offered a job and flies to London, with little idea of what to expect.

She is dismayed to discover that her new job is in the north of England, far from London. She is also disappointed to learn that she will be employed as a poorly-paid nursing assistant, rather than as a qualified nurse. It will take months to complete security checks and obtain her UK nursing registration number.