Volunteer Director Retires After Nearly a Half-Century

After 43 years of volunteer service to The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, Nita Weil, director of volunteer services, retired this January.

It’s ironic that Nita, confined to a wheelchair after suffering polio as a child, retired during the same year as the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Salk vaccine, which all but eradicated polio.

TIRR’s forerunner, known as the Southwestern Poliomyelitis Respiratory Center, was the first polio treatment center in the South - TIRR treated 15 percent of the nation’s polio patients during the 1950s epidemic. Today, TIRR maintains one of the few polio clinics in the nation to provide state-of-the-art care for patients who live daily with polio side effects.

From the very beginning, Nita took charge and organized patient programs and activities. Her volunteers did things like taking patients’ clothes home at night to wash them, maneuvering snack carts on the hospital floors, and taking patients on outings to places like the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo or ice shows. Even though some patients wore iron lungs, Nita and her staff never shied from the challenge of getting the job done.

The Texas Polio Survivors Association honored Nita and TIRR for their work on behalf of polio survivors at a benefit this past October. In addition, the Houston Chronicle’s “Texas Magazine” last July 28 carried a cover story on Nita, whose efforts touched so many during her years at TIRR.

– Nancy Hudgins

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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