They say everything happens for a reason. That could be said of Helen Genco’s childhood injury which was instrumental in her decision to become a nurse.

“My arm was badly injured as a child and I was hospitalized,” said Genco, chief operating officer at Bangor Area Visiting Nurses. “I was tended to by a student nurse and that piqued my interest in nursing from an early age. Plus the fact that my father told my siblings and me that he would pay for half of our college tuition if we became teachers or nurses.”

Helen became both. But now, at 63, she is retiring and turning over the reins to new blood.

Helen began her career as a nurse in her home state of Ohio, then became a part-time instructor at two schools in Columbus. When husband Joseph relocated to Maine in 1974 to teach at the university, he encouraged her to get her MBA.

Helen was teaching at Eastern Maine Medical Center school of nursing at the time, but with the birth of her third child, the timing seemed right to go back to school, this time as a student not an instructor.

Genco soon realized that the administrative side of life was her calling, and she secured the position at BAVN in 1984, known at the time as Bangor District Nursing Association.

“My background in teaching helped me in this job as I was always well-grounded in the principles of giving services and the need for policies and procedures,” she said. “My teaching experience also helped when I arranged for training on IV therapy, which was a new treatment offered at the time.”

Always thinking in terms of safety of the patient and the staff, Helen set forth developing the necessary measures to protect everyone involved.

“I always had a goal of having all the ducks in a row with certain steps to follow and a check-off policy,” she said. “For example, does the patient have pets in the home, which lends itself to cleanliness, and is there a working phone so that if something went wrong, the staff person could call for help.”

BAVN has seen many changes over the years, as has the face of healthcare.

“In 1984, Community Health and Counseling Services and BAVN were the only ones providing home healthcare. Now there are five Medicare hospices and home care agencies,” Genco said. “We are the oldest agency doing home care, and we were blessed in that we had an endowment. Then in 1940, we became the first agency to bill insurance and to become our own agency. Prior to that, women in the community would raise money and give it to Eastern Maine General Hospital to pay for a district nurse.”

BAVN came full circle when it signed on as an affiliate of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems in 1997.

Genco is looking forward to the free time that retiring will afford her, but will miss the day-to-day activities at BAVN.

“My favorite part of this position is that there is never a dull moment,” she said. “The changes in home care have been phenomenal, and there is always a chance for revising a system, or policy starting something new. That is the part I like the best. It’s a combination of human resources, finance and clinical. This position has everything, it’s a very comprehensive opportunity. And we have never been such a huge agency, so I have never lost sight of those opportunities.”

And Genco is not one to miss any opportunity. She is always looking to improve the agency and has great pride in all that BAVN has become.

“There are several things in which I have pride, such as getting accredited in 1991. We were the first in the area to do so when that was still out of the ordinary; to be accredited. And then there were all the mergers, first with EMHS in 1997, then Hospice of Eastern Maine merged with us in 1999 and finally in 2006, Eastern Maine Home Care was formed and BAVN came under that umbrella. All these changes kept things exciting.”

Colleagues are amazed by her as well.

“Helen is a role model for her nursing team and administrators across the EMHS organization. Her number one priority is highest quality patient care. Immediately following is the close connection nursing has with our community,” said Michael Crowley, president and chief philanthropy officer for Healthcare Charities. “We are all benefiting from her lifetime of care as a nurse, administrator and community leader.”

Helen has made many memories along the way.

“I have really enjoyed working with our all-volunteer board of directors,” she said. “They are a great mix of people and we always had fun together. They were great people, always genuine and weren’t there for a line on a resume.”

Before 1986, there were no men allowed on the board, as it comprised only members of the Federated Women’s Club.

“It was quite a feat to get men on the board,” said Genco. “But it was a good thing, as the clubs eventually disbanded. All in all, I think BAVN is a survivor and has strength and a historical perspective as an institution in Bangor. There is also a strength in being part of the larger system of EMH, which will benefit all of us in the long run.”

Genco is leaving enormous shoes to fill – but her legacy will live on in the work done by the staff at BAVN.

Carol Higgins Taylor is director of communications at Eastern Area Agency on Aging. E-mail Higgins Taylor at chtaylor@eaaa.org. For information on EAAA, call 941-2865, toll-free (800) 432-7812, e-mail info@eaaa.org or log on EAAA.org. TTY 992-0150.