Something Old, Something New

St. Vincent's College bears the distinction of being the University's newest college—and its oldest—at the same time

Feature story from the Spring 2021 issue of Sacred Heart University Magazine

In the main academic building’s science wing, right at the heart of Sacred Heart’s campus, is the new home for an old school. Its students are SHU, through and through. They study in Hawley Lounge and the Ryan Matura Library. They eat at JP’s Diner and 63’s. They have big dreams. But unlike much of the rest of the SHU community, who hail from 48 states and more than 40 countries, at the end of the day most of these students head home to residences throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties.

They are the students of St. Vincent’s College. Formerly its own entity, SVC was founded in 1905—nearly 60 years before Sacred Heart—to meet a growing regional population’s healthcare needs and, in the process, helped serve its educational and economic development as well. That it was brought into the SHU family in 2018 to become the University’s sixth and newest college is simply the most recent development in its long and illustrious history.

Anyone entering the SVC conference room will encounter artifacts such as nursing pins dating back to 1905, antique medical equipment, preserved nursing uniforms and textbooks. In Dean Maryanne Davidson’s office there is a snapshot of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul arriving by covered wagon to Bridgeport.

“It was an industrial city, and many people were not receiving health care,” Davidson says. “The Daughters thought this was an injustice.” Their society, devoted to serving the poor, founded St. Vincent’s Hospital first and then, to provide staff, the hospital’s Training School for Nurses. Initially, student nurses lived in the hospital. In 1915, a separate nursing residence opened.

After World War II, the School of Nursing, as it was known by then, began forming associations with local colleges for students to take general education courses, while SVC itself focused on hands-on learning to award its students a growing number of certificate programs and associate degrees in fields as varied as nursing, radiography and even, more recently, brewing science.

If that last part seems out of keeping with the rest, Dean Davidson is quick to point out that “St. Vincent’s has always been about responding to the needs of the community. At first it was health care. Then it was the nursing and staffing. Now it’s the jobs. If we can give people opportunities through unique or specialized education, that’s what we’re going to do,” she says.

Roads to the School and Pathways Beyond

Though the typical St. Vincent’s College students today are adults, many juggling work and their own family obligations, traditionally the school served younger women.

Women like Virginia Day, whose St. Vincent’s ties began in high school, volunteering at the hospital while at Notre Dame on Park Avenue (in the building that would eventually become home to Sacred Heart and, coming full circle, would house SVC here on campus). A 1964 graduate of St. Vincent’s, she recalls some bright women who enrolled because older relatives had, or because they had volunteered at the hospital, or because their family could not afford a four-year college education. Day would go on to teach at St. Vincent’s and is now a chaplain, with degrees in nursing and theology.

Then there’s Ginny Ginand, a Stratford resident and 1971 graduate who went to a Catholic grammar school in Bridgeport and spent 10 days in St. Vincent’s Hospital in fifth grade when she had rheumatic fever. That was a time when parent visits were capped at an hour or two daily, she recalls. The care she received—and a budding interest in the lives of Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale—sparked her career aspirations and would later help her feel at home in the school and hospital.

Alumni of that era weren’t always women. Martin Sbriglio’s father attended St. Vincent’s in the 1950s (before leaving to prepare for the birth of Martin’s older brother) and would share stories about the strict teachers. His dad respected the influence of the nuns who ran both the college and the hospital. “That created a dedicated mission to provide quality health care and strong clinically trained nurses,” the younger man explains.

After graduating from Suffield Academy, Sbriglio decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and enroll in St. Vincent’s. “Initially it was a little overwhelming, a young boy of 17 leaving an all-boys boarding school and entering a nursing school with all women,” he recalls. “The instructors looked at me with a jaundiced eye. But I made my way through it. I tried to get along with everybody.”

That he did. And for many years after grad-uating, he served the St. Vincent’s family as a member of its board. Today Sbriglio is CEO of Ryder’s Health Management, which owns Lord Chamberlain Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Stratford and six other skilled nurs-ing facilities statewide.

Student life traditionally involved routines, just like any household. Ginand recalls required study hours from 6 to 8 p.m. while Day remembers early morning Mass followed by prayer. And before student nurses could report for duty, they needed to pass inspection by the sis-ter director of the school. Indeed, as a whole, the sisters were treated with reverence by one and all. “The doctors—big names, heads of surgery—had to do whatever sister said,” Day explains. “These women had such influence.”

Influence that reached well beyond the walls of the school. Day recalls piling into a big, black Buick with her classmates and the sisters’ driver to make home visits to impoverished community members. She recalls nuns being called to the bedside of the dying. “I learned how to do that from them,” she says. “The sisters transmitted to us very deep values about how patients should be treated.”

A New Chapter

Over the next few decades, the school continued to evolve, expanding its offerings while staying true to its roots. Meanwhile, St. Vincent’s Medical Center became part of St. Louis-based Ascension, and then in 2018 the company made an agreement to be acquired by Hartord HealthCare. St. Vincent’s College was not part of the deal, though, and Hartford’s loss proved to be SHU’s gain.

Some alumni, including Day and Sbriglio, feared that “a complete divorce of the program from the hospital” (Sbriglio’s words) would spell a loss of the history, tradition and mis-sion of the original school. But, as Davidson explains, “We have continued to have a very strong and positive relationship” with St. Vin-cent’s Medical Center. Its chief nursing officer is part of SVC’s advisory board, and it contin-ues to be involved in clinical placements. So, while not officially part of the college family anymore, the hospital continues to play a fundamental role in its life and work.

Now, having worked closely with SVC through its transition, Day views the College’s programs and goals for students as very similar to that of the original school. And Sbriglio sees the positives of the College being part of a broader University family with education as its core mission. “The hospital’s management won’t affect the quality of education for our future nurses,” he says.

Meanwhile, at Sacred Heart, Kierran Broatch, executive director for university advancement, is now St. Vincent’s advancement lead. When he finds himself sharing the College’s story in conversations with SHU contacts, Broatch will note its history and how most graduates remain in the Greater Bridgeport area. “I’ll ask where they’re from and about their local hospital, then talk about how many St. Vincent’s graduates are working there,” he says. “It really blows people away that this College had such an impact on Connecticut’s health-care needs. It’s like the little engine that could.”

That, and everything old is new again.

Photo caption: St. Vincent's College students in 1926