Lowell, MA.. In 1909, before women had the vote, and before so many of the medical breakthroughs we take for granted today, Lowell’s women recognized the need for a new kind of care - home nursing - and made it happen. The vision and extraordinary work of these women lowered infant mortality significantly in just two decades, and brought health care and health education to people who would otherwise have had none. The Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Lowell (VNA) was born.
Beginning April 4th, visitors to a exhibit can expect to see photos, reports, items, letters, articles and memorabilia that chronicle VNA history, from its initiation as a "home nursing service" by the women of the Lowell Guild and the Middlesex Women's Club in 1909, to the VNA's current home health care and hospice services for people of all ages in Greater Lowell.
"The history of the VNA is intimately tied to the history of Greater Lowell," said VNA Executive Director Nancy L. Pettinelli. "Our service throughout the decades has directly impacted thousands of patients, and generations of families, right here in Lowell and surrounding communities."
The VNA will host two other free public events at the Center while the exhibit is displayed:
On Tuesday, April 14, at 4:00 PM, a poetry reading titled "The Poetry of Home" will be presented. Poet Paul Marion of UMass Lowell will join students in UML Professor Gigi Thibodeau's writing class in a reading of original poems on the theme of "home." Graphic arts students in Professor Karen Roehr's class will design a booklet of the poems.
In honor of national Nurses month, the VNA will present actress and nurse Kathy Duckett in a one-woman drama, Florence Nightingale: A Medical Revolutionary, on Tuesday, May 19 at 4:00 PM.
More information is available by contacting the Lowell National Historical Park at 978-970-5000 or the VNA of Greater Lowell at 978-805-2641 or community@vnalowell.org The Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center is located at 40 French Street, Lowell Massachusetts and is open daily, 1:30 - 4:30 pm. Admission is free.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
