Women - Hunterdon County, New Jersey

HENRIETTA SIODLOWSKI
In the mid-fifties, the Hunterdon County Public Health
Association began to explore public health nursing resources
in the county. At that time, there were only some part-time
school and municipal nurses who had no special training, but
were assisted by a supervisory nurse from the New Jersey
Department of Health.
After visiting other communities and agencies, members
of the Association determined to open a visiting nurse service
in cooperation with the Hunterdon Medical Center. The New
York University School of Nursing suggested candidates to
head this new agency. After nine years of work in Hoboken,
Henrietta Siodlowski, one of the candidates, was very ready
for a change. She was interviewed on two different
occasions, asked to tea, and offered the position -- which she
accepted. She began work in midsummer 1959.
Henrietta Siodlowski was born in Jersey City and raised in Hoboken, where she
attended local public schools. She remembers that from an early age she always
wanted to be a nurse, although she couldn't say why. She chose a five-year program
through the Jersey City School of Nursing, leading to a degree in Health Administration,
RN, and certification in school nursing. She later studied part-time for a master’s
degree in Public Health Administration, which was awarded in 1957 by New York
University. She worked in Jersey City and Hoboken in public health nursing.
Her work with the Family Nursing Service began in small quarters in the Hunterdon
Medical Center. There was considerable resentment at first from the nurses who had
already been working in schools and for the towns. The Family Nursing Service
proposed to contract to provide services by well-trained nurses both to schools and
municipalities. After several months of negotiations, the State Department of Education
provided rulings that spelled out the training for the school nurse; similar rulings were
developed for municipal nursing by the Department of Health. These negotiations were
performed between home visits and bedside care because Mrs. Siodlowski was both
director and the entire staff for the first few months of operation.
After some months the first nurse was hired. Several years went by before the
workload justified a third nurse. But under Mrs. Siodlowski's leadership the Service
expanded, eventually to include the Crippled Children's program and work with the
Cancer Society. In 1962, the agency moved to a small building on the hospital grounds.
The full-time staff grew, and the nurses in their blue uniforms could be seen all over the
county, providing home health services wherever needed.
In later years, the Family Nursing Service was merged with the Hunterdon Medical
Center, primarily as a result of changes in Medicare reimbursement regulations.
Mrs. Siodlowski retired from full-time professional work but continues to be active in a
number of voluntary agencies. She and her husband have lived for many years in their
home in Oldwick.
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