Call Number:

MC 66

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing

Extent:

3.5 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Moorestown Visiting Nurse Association records, Barbara Bates Center for The Study of The History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1909-1986 (inclusive)

Creator:

Moorestown Visiting Nurse Association. and Visiting Nurse Society of Riverton, Cinnaminson and Palmyra.

Form:

Administrative records

Abstract:

This collection contains the 20th-century records of two New Jersey Visiting Nurse Associations: the Moorestown Visiting Nurse Association (MVNA) and the Visiting Nurse Society of Riverton, Cinnaminson and Palmyra (VNSRCP). These two organizations merged in 1967.

In 1904, at the request of the Women's League of Mount Holly, Mary R. Sumner proposed that the Women's Club of Moorestown (then known as the Current Events Club) employ a nurse to be used jointly between the two towns. At the time there were very few small towns that employed a public health nurse so the idea was an innovative one. Sumner admitted that, with many others, she had doubts about the necessity of a visiting nurse. The original impetus for the formation of visiting nurse associations was to care for the sick poor in their homes, and many felt that in the Moorestown community there were "no factories and very few poor people who could possibly need help." Nevertheless, the proposition generated considerable interest in the community, and when several promised to pay for the services, the Women's Club of Moorestown decided to support the Mount Holly service.

The arrangement with Mount Holly, however, proved inadequate to both towns and thus, after a period where many feared that the service would end, popular support and the surprisingly large number of requests for visits from the "shared" nurse led to the formal organization of the independent Moorestown Visiting Nurse Association (MVNA) in 1906. Miss Ida Croft, an 1894 graduate of Women's Homeopathic Hospital in Philadelphia, served as the first visiting nurse at a wage of $25 per month, and resided at the Sumner home. The nursing program, financed by monthly contributions from a few faithful "friends" and material donations from various guilds, churches and individuals, included both general bedside care, baby welfare stations and social service work. Visits were designated as "pay," "friendly" and "charity." "Pay" visits occurred when money was received despite the amount; "friendly" visits indicated ones where the family welcomed the nurse and there was the possibility of helping, perhaps by kind words or advice; "charity" visits meant those where the nurse rendered some service without any remuneration. In the 1911 annual report, the first on record, the MVNA made 1,318 visits with a breakdown of roughly 15% pay, 60% friendly and 25% charity.

In 1912 the MVNA learned that its work had inspired similar associations in Salem, Haddonfield and Riverton. A year later the Church Federation, a predecessor agency of Family Service, became the first social service organization in the Moorestown area. The two bodies established what became a longstanding policy of close cooperation. Eventually, the organizations shared facilities and in 1918 purchased a car to be shared on a morning/afternoon basis. This made the nurse's job infinitely easier as before she had to depend upon trolleys for her transportation. In 1926 the MVNA made an agreement with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company allowing their industrial policy holders and group certificate holders to receive nursing services. A similar agreement was made in 1927 with the John Hancock Life Insurance Company.

Increasingly, then, public health nursing took on a more dominant role with the founding of the National Organization for Public Health Nursing (NOPHN) with which the MVNA formed immediate ties, becoming a corporate member in 1927. The MVNA board viewed their relationship with the NOPHN positively and felt·that it was in the best interest of the MVNA to work with an informed national organization. This stance was consistent with the high premium that the MVNA placed on the necessity for both the board and staff to keep informed and to educate the community. The MVNA, for example, required that all nurses attend courses at the Pennsylvania School of Public Nursing. Active in local, state and national levels, board members attended conferences and lectured to schools and organizations. Finance Committee chairperson Mrs. C. Reagan was the first president of a public health nursing association in Burlington and president Mrs. Francis Stokes, very active on the state level, became the first lay vice-chairperson of any society of public health nurses in addition to assisting with the formation of the first visiting nurse association in Camden.

"While the nursing care of the sick continues to be our first interest the greatest permanent value of our service probably lies in health teaching in the home." The late 1920s witnessed a new-found interest in "health programs" and health teaching. The MVNA tried to stay current in the field of public health nursing and incorporate these trends into its programs. Its 1927 Annual Report summarizes the gradual diversification of MVNA activities that had been taking place. The object of the MVNA, as stated in the 1931 Constitution and By-laws, was "to promote individual, family and community health; to prevent disease by teaching health, hygiene and sanitation; and to provide skilled nursing care for the sick in their homes on a part time basis." The 1931 annual report declared confidently, "We feel the community is beginning to recognize that public health nursing covers a much wider range of activities than bedside nursing alone, which was its original function in the community." As such, the MVNA announceda new effort to establish a general nursing service.

During the depression the MVNA provided material relief and initiated a Welfare Committee in 1931. Added to the published objectives of the agency was "to aid in the solution of social problems by cooperation with other social agencies in the community. " The board expressed interest in the area of mental hygiene, which they felt an "up and coming" and deserving of more attention. Shortly after that, in 1932, the MVNA announced that "mental hygiene has permeated our work." By 1934 half the nurses' time involved educational and preventive health activities. A maturing MVNA asserted in 1936 that "public health nursing, though essentially concerned with community needs, works primarily with the family as a unit and it is here that our greatest good goes ... the corrective work is valuable, the educational and preventive work immeasurable." As the purpose of public health nursing moved away from the traditional realm of "care for the sick poor" the service expanded steadily to include school nursing, nursing recruitment, a dental clinic (1933), a venereal disease clinic (1938), rehabilitation and work with crippled children (1946), sponsoring campaigns for early detection of breast cancer (1951), etc. and there had always been a stress on infant and child health. A "Visiting Nurse Says" column in the Moorestown newspaper provided advice on everything from nutrition to home safety. A steady increase in visits from the inception of the MVNA peaked in 1940 with 8, 702 visits made by a staff that had then grown to four nurses supplemented by two delivery nurses.

In 1953 the Metropolitan Life and John Hancock Insurance Companies canceled their agreements with the MVNA for lack of demand, confirming that "the years of health education through schools, radio, TV, papers, magazines and public health nursing as well as the new drugs available have all helped to change the MVNA program. From one largely of bedside care to the acutely ill we now find that our work has most of the emphasis on a strong health program in the schools, prenatal classes and care of the chronic patient."

The first major impact in 60 years of the MVNA came in 1966 with the implementation of Medicare. The board of directors resisted pressure from the New Jersey Department of Health to become part of a single county home health agency. The MVNA, however, could not meet the personnel standard for a qualified director (defined by regulation as a nurse with a Master's degree in nursing and five years experience). The agency subsequently purchased supervision services from Community Nursing Service in Mount Holly. The unacceptability of these terms helped spur merger discussions with the Visiting Nurse Society of Riverton, Cinnaminson and Palmyra (VNSRCP), another small agency that could not meet the new standards and had been financially unstable. The Visiting Nurse Society of Riverton and Cinnaminson was founded in 1912 with the sponsorship of the Riverton Porch Club and $750 collected door-to-door by Martha Mcllvain Biddle, the founder of the organization. Early on, the Society affiliated with the Red Cross Town and Country Nursing Service to have a source of advice and authority. In 1916 the Society was one of the first in the area to establish an agreement with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to provide nursing care to policyholders. In 1917, the town of Palmyra became part of the Society to form the Visiting Nurse Society of Riverton, Cinnaminson and Palmyra.

The story of the VNSRCP closely parallels that of the MVNA. A 1958 history states, "our VNS and Moorestown are unique in that we showed community pride and didn't sit and wait for county or state support." They too became increasingly interested in services beyond the care of the sick poor. Legally incorporated in 1920, the VNSRCP developed a dental service (1924), worked with public schools (1930), operated a venereal disease clinic (1937), and contracted for the care of physically challenged children.

Unfortunately, like the MVNA, the VNSRCP also suffered a decline in the use of their service. In 1951 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company terminated their contract and in 1953 John Hancock Life Insurance Company followed suit. The VNSRCP almost disbanded in 1960 due to serious deficit but managed to continue operation. Due to radically changed conditions and externally imposed regulation, however, merger discussions with the MVNA began in 1966, in the interest of efficiency and economy.

On January 1, 1967 the merger between the MVNA and the VNSRCP became effective and the organization, now serving a population of roughly 74,000, obtained full certification as a home health agency the following year. It continued to operate under the name of the MVNA.

The MVNA remained a traditional visiting nurse association. It provided services like physical, speech and occupational therapy; bedside care; family planning, maternal and child care counseling; child health conferences; crippled children program; school nursing; communicable disease guidance; chronic illness screening; mental health care and counselling; prenatal clinic and hospital coordination. In 1985, the MVNA began a corporate reorganization. A parent organization, VNA Home Care, was established with Partners in Home Care and the MYNA as subsidiaries. This reorganization took effect on 1 January 1987.

This collection documents the MVNA from founding and steady growth through eventual change and diversification. Since the services are so dependent upon societal factors, the files provide an indication of the effects of various government programs on smaller communities in terms of public health. The materials in this collection cover all facets of the operation of a visiting nurse service, from administrative and financial areas to public relations through pamphlets, newspaper coverage and photographs. The MVNA worked closely with the National Organization of Public Health Nursing (NOPHN) and served as a reference group to other local services, so the records provide insight into the inception and growth of these organizations as well.

The records of the VNSRCP also provide a useful illustration of a visiting nurse society through its life span. Annual reports from 1913 to 1967 and board meeting minutes covering the same years, which represent the total length of independent operation, are available. Also included is a comprehensive series of account books (1912-1933) and Treasurer's reports (19191966). On a more personal level, several handwritten histories are contained in the records, one of which was penned in 1913 by Martha Mcllvain Biddle (founder of the VNSRCP) recounting her efforts to start a VNS.

The records of the VNSRCP, 1913-1967, consist of a complete run of annual reports and a comprehensive series of account books (1912-1933). Also included is a history penned by founder Martha Biddle and a letter which she wrote in 1913 about her efforts to start a visiting Nurse Society.