Mount Desert Nursing Association

"Citizens of Mount Desert were successful in bringing a chapter [of the American Red Cross] to the island in the 1920s. In 1931, funds were raised, land donated, specifications and design done, and the house at 12 Summit Road was built! With its new headquarters, the Red Cross was able to provide more consistent nursing care and act as the “town nurse” through WWI and WWII, until 1948, when the Red Cross changed its mission to a focus on responding to disasters, and swimming/life-saving instruction.

"At that time, community members felt strongly about the prospect of losing their vital “town nurses.” So on September 1, 1949, the Mount Desert Public Health Nursing Association was founded, an organization which would continue the good work the American Red Cross had begun....

"From 1949 into the 1980s, the Registered Nurses of Mount Desert Public Health Nursing Association, which later evolved into the Mount Desert Nursing Association (MDNA) continued to provide home health care, school health exams, and community health programs....

"In 1993, the Mount Desert Nursing Association received its own 501c(3) status from the federal government and revamped the mission to encompass serving more towns of Mount Desert Island. From that point through 2022, MDNA served all of MDI and the outer islands.... In 2023, we expanded our geographic service area to include the neighboring towns of Lamoine and Trenton. Across the street from Mount Desert Elementary School and the Northeast Harbor Public Library, the white house with the red door is where we continue our work today of keeping patients healthy at home" ("Our History Is Over A Century Old" at Mount Desert Nursing Association ( https://www.mountdesertnursing.org/our-history : access 01 August 2025).