It Takes a Village: Health Care, Past and Present

Part 2: Vanceboro Nurses by Andrea Fisher¹

Nurses are often called “unsung heroes” and this is especially true of the nurses who offered health care to the people of Vanceboro and surrounding areas. Over an extended number of decades, they served their community to the very best of their abilities, rising to challenges posed by limited resources and distance. Some worked in paid contracts, but most just volunteered, dedicated as they were to serving others and offering their time and skills. They provided kindness and compassion to those in need and were loved in return. To some they were Earth Angels, with a calling to serve. All were highly respected and took great pride and joy in providing expert nursing care to improve the health and well-being of those in their community. 

These are a few of the nurses who worked in Vanceboro, though the list is far from complete: 

The following memories have been told by the living, so no doubt many stories have been lost by those who are no longer with us, and some are too difficult to share. My hope is to capture part of the great work these nurses did, as told by the people who lived in Vanceboro. Sharing these memories helps to recognize their valuable contribution to the health and wellness of the community.   

These nurses: 

• responded to medical emergencies day and night; delivered babies and, in one case, saved the life of a women experiencing a difficult labour; set splints to immobilize fractured limbs, performed CPR, treated a bee sting that caused severe allergy reaction, responded to diabetic emergencies, applied dressings to bleeding wounds, removed fishhooks, treated burns and more 
• accompanied ambulance staff during transport to hospital 
• made home visits 
• worked in clinics in the Vanceboro School and as school nurses 
• ran flu clinics; gave vaccines 
• checked blood pressure and made recommendations for follow-up medical care 
• provided health education to help people better understand their disease and treatment 
• supported families of children with health care concerns 
• cared for the critically ill and dying patients with compassion, dignity and respect 

Chrissie Beers, Diane Brown, Priscilla Clark and Kay Kneeland cared for persons with the Asian flu during the late 1950’s. These nurses risked their lives to care for critically ill and dying patients. 

Kay Kneeland provided nursing care to the Vanceboro Community in the 50’s. She married Asher Kneeland, Immigration Officer in Vanceboro. They were parents to four children; Asher Jr., Jack, Donny and Ann. Kay travelled to Calais where she worked as a nurse at the Calais Hospital. In 1957, Chrissie Beers and Kay cared for an acutely ill person with pneumonia, day and night for a week.   

Priscilla Clark moved to Vanceboro in 1948 with her husband, Donald Clark, Customs Officer. They lived next door to the Methodist church in the 1960s and sold their home in 1978 to Al and Jeanne Hogan. They had two sons, Alfred and Donald Jr.  Priscilla is well recognized for the expert nursing care provided to people living in Vanceboro.

World War II Nurses 

Three nurses and good friends from Vanceboro joined the war effort; Chrissie (Clendenning) Beers, Jo (Johnson) Boehm and Reitha (Hodgkins) Blais Scribner (Jo and Reitha were half-sisters). 

Elaine (McDougall) MacDonald

Elaine grew up in McAdam and moved to Vanceboro after marrying Gene MacDonald in 1963. She graduated in 1965 from Charlotte County Hospital’s Nursing School in St. Stephen and worked in Vanceboro until 1980. As part of her training, Elaine studied psychiatry at Douglas Hospital and pediatrics at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. 

Graduation notes from her yearbook, The Blue and the Gold, describe Elaine: 

“In residence you would find Elaine in deep conversation with some of the others or you wouldn’t see her for scurrying around her room trying to get ready before Gene came, and do you think she would make it?  Your guess would be about the best answer.

Elaine has been successful in all her courses during her training…. She received the Stanley Granville award for being the most efficient in her bedside nursing during her first year of training. “

Dorothy Alice (Tingley) Fisher as remembered by Andrea Fisher (daughter) 

I have many fond memories growing up and watching my mother, (Town Nurse in 1970s & 1980s) providing nursing care. In fact, she inspired me to become a nurse and I am proud to have followed in her footsteps. 

I recognized from an early age that pounding on our front door usually meant a medical emergency. One early morning, a friend came to get my mother to respond to a cardiac arrest. My mother left our home in her nightie and provided CPR to an elderly woman.  Fortunately, the woman survived, and they were all able to enjoy a cup of tea together. 

The locals would often come to our home with fishhooks in their fingers.  If my mother could not safely remove the hooks she would make appointments with Dr. Lam, at the McAdam Hospital to remove them the next day.  She provided a young mother with diabetes care and got up early in the morning for many weeks to teach her how to give herself insulin and make changes to her diet. Many people would consult with my mother to gain a better understanding of the information they received from the doctor and to raise questions about the accuracy of the information they received. 

When I was young there was often a kick ball game in the evening in our yard that many children would play. My mother took great pride in feeding the children homemade chocolate chip cookies and Kool-Aid with fluoride (believed at this time to help prevent cavities).  

My family has more than one memory of people arriving at our front door with severely bleeding wounds. My mother would do her best to stop the bleeding and apply bandages (for many years there was a permanent blood stain near the front door). She shared with me that her main concern was that she did “too good” a job with the dressings and that the persons would not seek the medical care needed to get stitches. 

She enjoyed making mince meat pies with deer meat during the holidays and was so thankful to receive gifts of deer necks to make her pies in appreciation for the nursing care she provided.   

Diane Arlene Main Brown as remembered by Lyn Mikel Brown (daughter) and Bill Brown (son) 

Diane and her two young children, Billy and Susan, moved to Vanceboro to live with her mother, Louise Hodgkins Main, in 1954. She reconnected with Linwood (Lindy) Brown and they were married a year later. They lived with Lindy’s mother, Carrie Mansfield Brown, on High Street and had two more children, Lyn and David. Diane soon began working informally as a Vanceboro community nurse. She offered care and gave shots to people in town, including those who needed insulin. But community nursing was so much more, she told us.

“I was the only nurse in town then, and the hospital and the doctor were thirty miles away through Canada or sixty miles through the states, so when anybody had any problem with their kids or anything, they would bring them to me. And I didn’t mind. I loved it. When a young man burned his hands, they didn’t take him to Calais, they came to me. If anybody went into labor and they thought they would have problems getting to a hospital, they would come to the house and say, Diane go with us.”  

Dawn Lathrop recalls Diane as her Nana Crandlemire’s nurse back in 1957.  She remembers watching her “comb Nana’s long hair every day and put it in a pug. She was with her when she passed away.” Diane also cared for Carrie, her mother-in-law, who died at home in the family house on High Street.  

Diane was hired as the school nurse providing health education, giving immunization shots, and caring for sick children. “I was paid $50 a year,” she said. “Not a lot, but I mean, I was going to do it anyway.”  

Bill Brown remembers seeing his mother in school.  

“It was at the height of vaccinations with the new vaccines for polio and so on. We had our shots done room by room, two classes per room. You can imagine the shock on my face when I saw Mom giving the shots! All I could think was, please don’t make a fuss over me. But, aside from calling me William, she was cool. I’ve never had a fear of needles and I give credit to Mom for that. And when we came down with the mumps, chicken pox, or the flu, we had our own private nurse, who had her own thermometer.”

HEALTH CARE TODAY: THE VANCEBORO FIRE DEPARTMENT           

Curtis Scott has been the Chief of Vanceboro’s Fire Department for the past 40 years and a member of the department for 42. He works closely with a team of volunteers who are certified in CPR, have received first aid training and assist in responding to all 911 calls.  

The Vanceboro team are the community’s first responders to medical emergencies, fires in the forest and homes, car and snowmobile accidents, hurricanes and natural disasters, and more. They provide assessment and safe transport of elderly persons who are ill or have fallen in their homes.

The reduction of open hours at the US Customs and Border Station in Vanceboro (September 2022) has created new challenges for the Fire Department. Curtis and five additional members of the Fire Department are permitted to open the gates at the US border to allow the ambulance from Calais and Fire Department from McAdam to respond to medical emergencies and fires, 8 pm to 8 am.

The residents of Vanceboro are fortunate to have this dedicated group of first responders. In 1984, it took Curtis and members of the Fire Department under ten minutes to respond to a fire in the home of Aubrey and Sadie Raye. The fire was most likely caused by the overuse of electrical appliances in an upstairs bed room and flames had reached the ceiling on two walls when members of the Fire Department arrived. The firefighters contained the blaze to one room and within an hour had the fire safely out. Family members were not injured.

Years ago when Vanceboro was a much larger town, resident and then visiting doctors from McAdam cared for local families. Once doctors left, local nurses provided expert health care with a strong sense of community and duty. Currently the town looks to the Fire Department to provide emergency care. All are recognized leaders. All have made a difference in the lives of the people of Vanceboro. All are deeply appreciated. Their efforts and their memories will live on with the important work of the Vanceboro Historical Society.

The authors of these stories have strived to present the history of health care in Vanceboro as accurately as possible. Additional content or corrections can be added with your input. Please reach out to us via the Vanceboro Historical Society Facebook page with any information that you feel may be important to include.

1. A special thank you to members of the V’boro ME Community Facebook (September & October 2023) who contributed beautiful and moving stories from their personal experiences.   ↩︎