In the second installment of the Newtown Visiting Nurse Association’s (VNA) history, The Newtown Bee will look back on the organization’s last 50 years of keeping our town healthy.

The women of the VNA were and continue to be the medical superheroes of Newtown — swooping in to take care of residents no matter what the health need may be. It seems only fitting that many of them donned blue capes in this year’s Labor Day Parade to pay homage to the nurses’ uniforms of yesteryear.

In the VNA’s early incarnation, its members did everything from delivering milk and hot lunches to school children, providing health clinics, doing ear and eye screenings, caring for the chronically ill, to administering flu shots. The trailblazing ladies were even the first women in the area to drive a car, which allowed them to visit patients unable to come directly to them.

All the while, their beloved Thrift Shop moved from below the local A&P to the Edmond Town Hall in 1969 and continued to be a crucial fundraising outlet for their initiatives.

It was during this time that the VNA gained one of its longest tenured members, Mae Schmidle.

Mrs Schmidle moved to Newtown with her family in 1964 and became an active member of the community, even serving as chairman of the Fairfield Hills Hospital Board of Trustees, when the facility was in operation, and founding the Newtown Public Safety & Health Fair.

When First Selectmen Frank Delucia requested her assistance with the VNA in the 1960s, she did not hesitate to oblige but admits today that she never knew she would continue her services with the group for more than five decades.

In 1969, the state and federal guidelines changed so that all Visiting Nurse Associations would be required to have a director with master’s degree.

As a small agency, the VNA could not afford to meet the requirements to provide its public health services, so under the guidance of the group’s president, Mary Holian, the VNA Board of Directors made the decision to become affiliated with the Danbury VNA and purchased its nursing services through them.

According to the VNA’s 90th anniversary booklet, “Newtown still maintained its own nurses, Mary Nolan and Reta Wittmore, and was in compliance with all federal regulations. Mary Holian soon honored Newtown by becoming president of the state public health nursing association.”

Looking back on the decision to team up with another group, Mrs Schmidle says, “I was always a little bit heartbroken that we didn’t stick it out with our own agency.”

Still, as they were able to stay open and serve the community, the VNA worked with many medical professionals, including Dr Benton Egee, Dr Philip Kotch, and Dr Thomas Draper. These doctors volunteered their time on impactful projects like the Well Child Conference.

Newtown Remembered: More Stories of the 20th Century states that the Well Child Conference began in March 1971, and it met “at least once a month and provided examinations and diagnosis for infant and pre-school children whose parents were unable provide health care. It also provided immunization and vaccinations.”

Dr Draper became a very influential part of the VNA, and Mrs Schmidle remembers fondly how Dr Draper brought her to Yale with him to help advocate for making higher education nursing programs a four-year degree.

According to Mrs Schmidle, Dr Draper continues to support the VNA as the head of its Community Health Program, which involves three other towns. He and Dr Bob Grossman both serve on it.

Also, during the 1970s, the VNA provided funds to include a VNA Memorial Health Center in the multipurpose building that was being constructed for a daycare and senior center (known today as the Children’s Adventure Center and Newtown Senior Center, located at 14 Riverside Road). Thanks to the VNA, the center had a state-of-the-art hearing room for exams and was used for public health clinics and the Well Child Conferences.

Throughout the following decades, the VNA continued to diligently serve the community by providing a wide range of programs that sought to improve and sustain the health of the town’s residents.

“Wherever there was a need, the VNA would jump in and take care of that,” Mrs Schmidle said.

According to VNA president Anna Wiedemann, after the year 2000, the VNA was no longer in a formal contract with the Danbury VNA, and the group began teaming up with the Bethel VNA for different initiatives.

In 2006, when the Healthy Start program was implemented by the State of Connecticut to assist lower income families, the VNA started assisting patients not covered by insurance.

Two years later, Mrs Schmidle was honored as Grand Marshal at the 47th Annual Newtown Labor Day Parade for her volunteerism and public service. The parade celebrated the VNA’s milestone 90-year anniversary and inspired the slogan, “Go Mae, Go VNA.”

Coordinated Efforts

Today, the VNA continues to work directly under the supervision of doctors and nurses to offer services like student eye screenings with the Newtown Lions Club; flu clinics, cholesterol screenings, and monthly blood pressure screenings at the Newtown Senior Center; flu clinics for the staff, children, and parents of the Children’s Adventure Center; and it works with the Newtown Health District on everything from Lyme disease awareness to drug addiction in the area.

This school year, the VNA has been requested to assist the local elementary schools for children’s eye screenings.

In addition, the VNA monetarily supports high school graduates and students seeking graduate school degrees with scholarships every June. Since 1972, the group has awarded more than $150,000 in scholarships to students entering the medical field.

The VNA also stocks and operates their Loan Closet at the Edmond Town Hall and at Social Services (Town Hall South), to loan medical equipment — including wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes, shower seats, etc — to those in need, free of charge.

When discussing what the future of the VNA may be, Mrs Schmidle says, “The VNA is always determined by the people that they have on the Board… I think one of the roles of the VNA, as we look ahead, is to see what the medical needs of the town are and fill those needs.”

For more information about the Newtown VNA, visit facebook.com/vnanewtown06470 or stop by the VNA Thrift Shop, 45 Main Street, Wednesdays, from noon to 3 pm; and Saturdays, from 9 am to noon.

The Newtown Bee would like to acknowledge and thank the following individuals for the immense assistance provided in the research of this feature: Town Historian Daniel Cruson, 2018 VNA President Anna Wiedemann, and Mae Schmidle.

100th Anniversary VNA Officers

Anna Wiedemann, President

Mary Tietjen, Vice President

Rebeka Dahlgard, Treasurer

Alice Falkowitz, Assistant Treasurer

Kathy Madzula, Recording Secretary

Maureen McLachlan, Corresponding Secretary

Mae Schmidle, Parliamentarian.

Directors

Joanne Albanesi

Toni Catalina

Marianne Corbo

Dottie Dellapiano

Cris Fadus

Carol Garbarino

Louise Howell

Margareta Kotch

Luella Leither

Ashley Mackey

Rosemary Nielsen

Deborah Osborne

Joan Reynolds.

Associate Member

Betty Warner

Honorary Directors

Donna Culbert

Dr Thomas Draper

Dr Robert Grossman