Nursing scholarship pays forward legacy of Helene Gouin

LACONIA — Helene Gouin dedicated a lifetime to service to her community. She walked the halls of St. Francis Rehabilitation and Nursing Center for years, providing compassionate care to elder residents. She never stopped, even later in life, when she was a resident herself.

In the halls at St. Francis, one will notice a distinct togetherness among the staff there. That’s no accident, nurses there explain, because fostering a sense of family between staff, residents and patients is one of the primary objectives within the facility.

St. Francis has undergone a lot of change over the years. At its inception, it was run by Carmelite nuns, Catholic sisters who traditionally took male names and lived and worked on top of the hill overlooking Lake Winnisquam. St. Francis, which is operated by Catholic Charities New Hampshire, was originally constructed in 1948 and known as St. Francis Home for the Aged.

It’s since expanded, most recently in 2018, when the organization added new facilities geared toward rehabilitation, so the team could ultimately send short-term residents back home to their own homes and families. 

“We’ve tried very hard for many years to make it welcoming, to make it a place of learning,” Buttrick said. “That’s been the mission all along.”

And Gouin was there through much of it, tending to patients of her wing — the same wing she would later become a resident within — until she retired in 2005 at 70 years old. She died at 88 in May.

“She was still running the show,” said Maddy Dauphinais, a retired nurse who also worked at St. Francis and has since returned as a volunteer. “She lived in the way she worked — when you’re a nurse, you’re always a nurse. We work hard to get where we are.”

Gouin’s legacy would have stood on its own, but a scholarship program will ensure her memory will last an eternity. Helping to fill a significant gap in the workforce for the health care industry, the Pathways program serves to educate nurses, assisting them in achieving a licensed nursing assistant accreditation all the way to becoming a registered nurse.

The program can take a new hire, with no professional experience but a demonstrated interest in the career, and turn that candidate into a nursing professional. Candidates must have worked at St. Francis for a year and be in good standing in terms of attendance and job performance. 

“We’re looking for people who want to be in service,” said St. Francis Administrator Brenda Buttrick, who started working there in 2000.

To achieve an LNA accreditation takes around 100 hours of study and application and costs about $2,200. The Pathways program covers the cost. To get all the way to a registered nursing accreditation generally takes four to five years. St. Francis is able to offer courses in-house and often tries to partner with other nursing centers to increase class sizes.

The scholarship in Gouin’s name was created following her death. Her family intends to fund the scholarship at $10,000 each year and the goal for the entire program is to raise $25,000 annually, enough to fund the education of one new registered nurse. 

Funding for the Pathways program comes in many forms, and executives at St. Francis are always looking for relevant grants or other gifts.

“This is a great way to honor Helene’s career,” Buttrick said. “And what the Gouins are doing may spread — it’s been a game-changer as far as our ability to recruit LNAs.”

To contribute to the scholarship fund, visit cc-nh.org/donate and write "Helene Gouin Nursing Scholarship Fund" in the comment section. Contributions can also be made by mail to Helen Gouin Nursing Scholarship Fund, c/o Catholic Charities NH, 100 William Loeb Drive, Unit 3, Manchester, NH 03109, with a check payable to Catholic Charities NH and "Helen Gouin Nursing Scholarship Fund" in the memo line. 

It isn’t easy to attract candidates into the profession — particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, Buttrick said. That period of time was particularly difficult for staff and residents at St. Francis, when numerous patients died. 

“It’s a great opportunity for the people we’ve sponsored,” Buttrick said. “This is a significant impact on St. Francis.”

The nursing center has 82 employees right now and, despite a recent expansion to their facilities, is normally near capacity. There are both 25 independent-living beds and 51 nursing center beds available to those who will stay at St. Francis for the long-term. The facility includes both private and semi-private accommodations.

Since 2023, 12 new hires have achieved various accreditations through the Pathways program. Because the pipeline from LNA to RN is rigorous, and administrators know candidates cannot reasonably work and study full-time concurrently, candidates are afforded a paid study day each week along with other avenues of academic support.

As an individual who was passionate about the nursing profession, to say the least, Gouin would likely be proud of what will surely become a major facet of her legacy. 

“Helene was on the evening shift,” Buttrick said. “I remember her as somebody very caring. She loved the residents and treated them all like they were her own family. For Helene, it was a calling from god.”

Gouin was a devout Catholic and attended the church now known as St. Andre Bessette Parish. 

“Helene got upset if things didn’t go well,” Dauphinais said. “She had very high standards. I started here in 1995 and she came in 1996 — the evening shift is a very difficult shift. She had a lot of patients, but Helene, she didn’t walk, she ran.”

Mindy Bowen, health information manager at St. Francis, called Gouin a close friend and colleague and said she initially recruited her to work at St. Francis from another nursing facility. Bowen has been working there since 1997. 

“She always took everyone under her wing,” Bowen said. 

Before Gouin moved into St. Francis, she was Bowen’s neighbor and the pair would often visit, congregating every day for some period. 

“She was my New Hampshire mom, the grandmother to my kids,” Bowen said.