This is the eighth of a series
of 12 profiles that chronicle Alexandria's Living
Legends, people who are today's history makers. Living
Legends of Alexandria is a joint project of the Rotary
Club of Alexandria and the Alexandria Gazette Packet.
Conceived and directed by Nina Tisara, it is designed as
an ongoing project to identify and honor those
individuals whose vision and dedication make a positive
and tangible difference to the quality of life in
Alexandria. For more information or to nominate a Legend
for next year's program, visit tisaraphoto.com/legends.
If
you believe no one but you is concerned about your
health, you are mistaken. Arlene Hewitt probably is a
good deal more concerned about it than you are. And
likely has been concerned about it for more
years.
Since Hewitt moved to Alexandria from
Boston more than 40 years ago and took a job with then
Alexandria Hospital as its first social worker, she has
rarely stopped thinking about the well-being of
Alexandrians. Over the years, she has launched or helped
lead more health initiatives for city residents than
even she can recall at a single sitting. By all
accounts, her work went well beyond her work at the
hospital.
Giving up on keeping his nomination of
Hewitt for an Alexandria Living Legends to 100 words,
her husband wrote: "There is no way I can tell you about
Arlene Hewitt in 100 words or less." He then went on for
more than 500 words about just "the highlights" of her
dedicated work for the city.
Even the 1,000-word
limit for this article is inadequate to describe her
qualifying work. So here follows, also by necessity,
just the highlights, of four decades of Hewitt’s
passionate, devoted, volunteer work on behalf of the
health of city residents.
SHE INITIATED
then Alexandria Hospital’s first — perhaps the country’s
first — patient discharge plan, which requires the
hospital staff who worked with the patient to meet
before the patient is discharged to create a plan for
recovery at home. The procedure is now standard at
hospitals across the country.
She set up
counseling for hospital patients — something new at the
time — and set up a treatment program for alcoholics who
came to the hospital. She rounded up a student from
Virginia Theological Seminary to counsel
them.
She created a fitness program for the
city’s seniors and pushed a city regulation requiring
children under age 14 to wear helmets while bicycling,
including rounding up a supply of the helmets for police
to hand out from their squad cars. She wrote booklets
for seniors, new moms, and the indigent on city
resources available to them; chaired the task force that
built the Flora Krause Casey Clinic; worked on various
city programs to reduce teen pregnancy; initiated a
stroke symptoms awareness program; pushed an effort
combining police, fire and other safety personnel to
prevent life-altering accidents in children, and headed
up the city’s infant and adult inoculation
programs.
That’s not all, just all there’s room
for.
"WHILE AT THE hospital, Arlene
assisted in nearly every way imaginable to make the
hospital a cornerstone of the community," said Patrick
Walters, executive vice president, Inova Health System,
former CEO of then Alexandria Hospital. "Her long-time
commitment went above and beyond the call of duty and
continues to be evident even today."
At age 77
and long-retired, Hewitt is still at it. Four years ago,
she was appointed by the City Council to serve on the
Alexandria Public Health Advisory Commission. She works
on "Operation Preemie," an Inova Fair Oaks Hospital
program that she hopes to bring to
Alexandria.
"They call me ‘Queen of the Preemies’
" she said. "It makes me feel good that I’m not
considered over the hill."
How has Hewitt gotten
so much done over the years?
As one might expect,
she is different from most of people. She wastes not one
minute. Make that a millisecond. Her condo on Howard
Street is located directly across from Inova Alexandria
Hospital, so as not to waste time on transportation. She
makes clear, but not offensively, that she expects a
visitor to be on time. She explains where to park —
close to the correct door but not illegally — exactly
which elevator to take, and which way to turn in the
hallway. She answers the door before the visitor knocks.
Her condo, homey and tasteful, is nonetheless clearly
set up for work: phone, computer, fax, copier — all at
the ready.
"I love for people to say to me, ‘It
can’t be done,’ " she said. "That really gets me going."
By Pat Durkin
Former editor of the
Alexandria Gazette Packet