The Visiting Nurse Association of Boston was founded in 1886 as the Instructive District Nursing Association (IDNA). It was begun by Abbie Crowell Howes and Hannah Adam with the cooperation of the Boston Dispensary and the Women's Education Association for the purpose of developing and maintaining a service agency to provide home nursing care to the sick poor of Boston. The association nurses worked under the immediate direction of a physician, giving hygiene and basic nursing instruction to the families they served. The IDNA's first president was Phoebe Adam, and its first nurse was Amelia Hodgekiss.

In 1888 the IDNA began to provide services to private patients of the Boston Dispensary in addition to the poor. At the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 the association had its own exhibit. Specialized tuberculosis nursing was introduced in 1903, and in 1905 the association assigned a district nurse to the Boston Public School system for the first time.

In 1912 Mary Beard was appointed superintendent and director of the Training Program and in 1921-1922 she produced the IDNA statement of the year. Difficulties in this period included the influenza epidemic of 1918 and the problems of returning WWI veterans.

In the 1923 the IDNA merged with the Baby Hygiene Association to form the Community Health Association (CHA). A 1926 study of the Community Health Association cited it as a model for private and public health nursing service in homes and communities.

During WWII the CHA faced many problems including depleted staffing as well as the need to provide relief in hospitals. In 1943 the association's name was changed to the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston (VNA). In the 1960s some of the challenges and innovations of the VNA included the use of the Salk vaccine. A 1980 strike by association staff ended in January 1981. In 1986 the association celebrated its centennial.

Sources

A History 1886-1986: Instructive District Nursing Association, Community Health Association, Visiting Nurse Association. Boston, MA: Visiting Nurse Association of Boston, 1985.