Helen J. Harrington

Helen J. Harrington, R.N., of 1 Call Street in North Billerica, was Billerica's public health nurse for more than thirty years. She took up the post in the summer of 1941, after the death in May of the town's nurse Mary E. Hennessy, and her first report covers the service from July 1, 1941: 106 cases and 497 home visits in six months, 90 of them free, with fees of fifty cents a visit and payments from the Metropolitan Life and John Hancock insurance companies for their policyholders. The town lists call her the Municipal Nurse or Board of Health Nurse (in some years as Helen M. Harrington).

Her yearly reports trace the growth of the work. In 1944 she assisted at seven diphtheria immunization clinics. In 1960 the service reached 672 persons with 2,507 visits in surgical, medical, pediatric, geriatric, prenatal and communicable disease care; she followed tuberculosis patients for the county sanatorium, arranged clinic and X-ray care, and prepared two polio clinics at which 1,108 persons were inoculated with Salk vaccine. From 1967 she shared the work with Barbara B. George, R.N.. In 1970, with the well child program under Dr. Harriet P. Leach in its fourth year, the two nurses reported 3,935 visits.

She was also a familiar figure at town meeting, where from at least 1965 to 1973 she accompanied the National Anthem at the piano. After an accident early in 1973, Ruth H. Annese, R.N., was appointed on February 28 to fill in. She retired in April 1973. The Board of Health wrote that her "many years of dedicated service, far beyond the call of duty" had been appreciated by all, and that the expression "an Angel without wings" truly applied; the nursing report thanked her for 27 years as Public Health Nurse.

In retirement she served the town as a Bowers Fund Commissioner. Town meeting elected her to the commission for five years in 1971 and reappointed her in 1976 and 1981; in 1987 a successor was named to fill the vacancy. Her gravestone in Saint Mary Cemetery in Tewksbury, near her North Billerica home, reads "Helen J. Harrington R.N.," 1903 to 1986.

References

1. Report of Board of Health Nurse, 1941, p. 55 (service from July 1, 1941; signed Helen J. Harrington, R.N.)
2. Report of the Public Health Nurse, 1960 (polio clinics; signed Helen J. Harrington)
3. Annual town meeting, 1965 (National Anthem accompanied by Helen J. Harrington at the piano)
4. Report of the Public Health Nurse, 1970, p. 69 (signed Helen J. Harrington, R.N. and Barbara B. George, R.N.; photograph)
5. Town meeting of March 13, 1971 (elected to the Bowers Fund Commission for five years)
6. Report of the Board of Health, 1973 (her retirement in April; "an Angel without wings")
7. Report of Public Health Nursing Service, 1973 (Ruth Annese appointed after her accident; thanks for 27 years)
8. Annual town meeting, April 7, 1981 (Helen J. Harrington of 1 Call St. appointed to the Bowers Fund Commission)
9. Helen J. Harrington, R.N. (1903-1986), Find a Grave (gravestone, Saint Mary Cemetery, Tewksbury)