About Us / History
Mission:
Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association provides comprehensive care in the community and the home, supporting health and well being while encouraging independence.
The Beginning
Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association has its roots deeply planted in the history of New Hampshire and nursing as a profession. It was organized as the Concord District Nursing Association in October of 1899 through the efforts of Lilian Carpenter Streeter and Dr. Nelson McMurphy. These two concerned citizens were aware of the health needs of the poor living in Concord and were motivated by the district nursing movement that had come to this country from England.
By 1872 schools for training nurses had been started in both New York and Boston. These first schools were based upon the Nightengale philosophy and were quickly joined by hospital based schools in cities throughout the United States.
In 1885, Dr. Alfred Worcester of Waltham, Massachusetts, saw the deficiencies of the purely hospital based training for nurses and started the Waltham Training School for Nurses. This school produced the pioneers in the district nursing and it was to this school that the founders of the Concord District Nursing Association would later go to recruit its first nurse, Miss Katherine Hill.
By the late 1880’s those people with money could receive state of the art health care by using the hospitals or hiring a well-trained private nurse for the home. Mrs. Streeter and Dr. McMurphy saw that there were far too many people living in Concord who did not have the money to afford this. In response to this growing need, and with a deep desire to promote the health and well being of the community at large, they called upon the churches and charitable organizations of Concord to send representatives to a meeting to organize a district nursing program in Concord.
Thirteen people representing ten churches in the city organized the Concord District Nursing Association on October 11, 1899. The State of New Hampshire incorporated the Association one week later, on October 18, 1899.
The desire to provide a nurse trained in district nursing led the committee to the Waltham Training School for Nurses where they succeeded in engaging Miss Katherine B. Hill as the first nurse for Concord District Nursing Association. Miss Hill began her work on December 1, 1899, and from the very first day was kept busy, a conclusive proof that the great need of a district nurse in Concord had not been over estimated. (First Annual Report of Concord District Nursing Association)
That first winter found Miss Hill often trudging through the snow on foot to get to her cases, especially when deep snow rendered the streetcars inoperable. The Executive Committee was concerned about her transportation and by the following May conducted a special fundraising effort to purchase a “first class chainless bicycle for her.” By 1901 the Boston & Maine Railroad granted free transportation on the streetcars for the district nurse and the five local stables offered free carriage rides during the bad weather.
The Association provided Miss Hill with housing at a boarding house on Main Street, not far from the Streeter residence. This also served as the first home for the Concord District Nursing Association. She received her orders from the physicians by telephone and prepared a detailed monthly report of her activities. She reported to the Executive Committee and by March had the assistance of a visiting committee made up of volunteers who helped her with her work.
The Association decided in the beginning that the work would be wider an more far-reaching, and do more good to those who needed it, if everyone paid something, even though a small sum, for the nurse’s work (Annual Report 1901). Over half of the cases were treated absolutely free. Fundraising was and always has been a necessary part of this association. From the beginning subscriptions were sold and contributors became members of the association. Each year the Association would provide a public report on the accomplishments of the organization and names of donors and their contributions.
A strong commitment to nursing education was established in the earliest days of the agency when Concord District Nursing Association offered the three local nurse training programs the opportunity to include district nursing in their clinical experience. In December of 1900, an agreement was established with the State Hospital School of Nursing to provide a rotation in district nursing under the supervision of Miss Hill. This commitment to nursing education proudly continues today with Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association.
The founders of Concord District Nursing Association laid a firm foundation that would enable the agency to meet the challenges of the years to come. The Association was served through the epidemic of influenza in 1918, the flood of 1936, the Great Depression, two World Wars, and a century of change. The name has been changed several times, but the mission remains the same. It is with this firm foundation of 1899 that Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association is poised to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.
Sources:
Concord District Nursing Association Annual Reports
District Nursing, by Lilian C. Streeter, October 14, 1902
Concord And Her Visiting Nurses, by Lilian C. Streeter, May 6, 1905
A Kindly Interest, by Jill C. Wilson, 1989
