Our Hometown
Nashua | Betsy Houde
Clip | 4m 13sVideo has Closed Captions
Betsy discusses her many roles in Nashua, and the humble beginnings of the SNHMC.
Betsy discusses her many roles in Nashua, and the humble beginnings of the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Our Hometown is a local public television program presented by NHPBS
Our Hometown
Nashua | Betsy Houde
Clip | 4m 13sVideo has Closed Captions
Betsy discusses her many roles in Nashua, and the humble beginnings of the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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I grew up in New London, Connecticut.
I attended Connecticut college and my undergrad was in child development and so applied for all kinds of interesting jobs.
When I finished, I'd also done some writing, like magazine writing kinds of things, but I physically moved up here in 1983, so I was fresh out of college, ready to take on the world and my very first job was at the Nashua Children's Home, and that's the old Protestant orphanage right up on Amherst Street that started in like 1903, So spent 13 years there helping take care of kids that had been placed outside their home and then wound up going to the youth council, which is another local nonprofit working with at risk kids and more of a prevention early intervention capacity.
And I was their director for 22 years before I wound up at the hospital.
So I've done cool things statewide and nationally, but I've literally spent my entire adult career in Nashua nonprofit land.
Southern New Hampshire Medical Center is like 130 years old.
And as I learned, we actually started with eight beds in the basement of the police department, I think as different people wound up becoming ill and that they weren't able to then stay in their homes, the police department had eight beds there, and that's when, you know, the local physician comes in on horseback and basically set up care for people.
It was that was like 1891, I think.
So shortly after that, the space was rented on a place called Collins House on Spring Street that housed eight beds and then eventually moved to part of the campus that we're on right now.
It's a prospect in Dearborn Street with 25 beds, and they bought that property for $7500 back I think it was 1903.
The names have changed over time.
It was named National Memorial Hospital.
I think most people still refer to it as Memorial today back in the early 1920s.
And I did actually have my daughter there in 1991 as Memorial Hospital.
So never in a million years thought I would wind up working there someday.
But it was a great experience.
We are a welcoming city and Nashua is absolutely gotten more diverse, but I think in doing so it's become richer.
I think just so much more interesting.
We have just amazing art opportunities now, like Positive.
Street Art has done a phenomenal job, really beautifying the community.
And one thing they did that I'm incredibly proud of is I'm part of the Nashua West Rotary Club and we just celebrated our 50th anniversary and commissioned Positive Street Art to create this incredible mural of a little biracial girl.
I'm blowing bubbles, and each of the bubbles is a different avenue of service of rotary, but it's on a building at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, you know?
So it was like all my world sort of coming together.
And Positive Street Art created this beautiful mural to help celebrate that.
I think one of the things I really love the most are the number of people who really care about the community and want to make sure that it's an amazing place to thrive for generations to come.
You know, anytime I call a colleague and they pick up the phone, it's like, how can I help?
I think people are really invested in really wanting to make a difference.
And I think you see that from all the different committees and commissions and task forces and the people that really come together.
So no plans to leave when I retire and yeah, just really incredibly proud to do the work that we're able to do.
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Our Hometown is a local public television program presented by NHPBS