Working

Vickie Nardello, RDH, BS, MEd

"It happened by accident," said Vickie Nardello, RDH, BS, MEd, of her 1994 entrance into the world of politics. Now, 12 years later, Rep. Nardello is preparing to win her seventh consecutive election for a seat on the Connecticut General Assembly.

"I'll start door knocking right after the 4th of July and I'll go every night," said Nardello. Although her reelection campaign is underway, Nardello's opponent will not be determined until after the August primary election.

Similar to her entry into the political world, Nardello's decision to enter the field of dental hygiene was impromptu. Originally planning to be a teacher, Nardello was convinced by her dentist to consider dental hygiene as a career. "It met my needs at the time," said Nardello. "The idea that I could work after two years of school-and have a reasonably good income-was really the reason."

After graduating from dental hygiene school in 1971, Nardello went to work in clinical practice, where she was able to gain valuable experience in a variety of settings. "I had a wide range of experience; I worked in a periodontal office, a general private practice, and a pedodontic office."

She also continued her education and, in 1975, she received her bachelor's in dental hygiene education from the University of Bridgeport, which allowed to her to pursue a teaching career at Tunxis Community College. Two years later, Nardello graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with her master's in education.

"Dental hygiene is so specific-I had a dental hygiene degree and a dental hygiene education degree-and I really wanted to broaden my health care experience," said Nardello. "I thought the best thing would be health education because it seemed to fit with dental hygiene and yet it was looking along the broader lines of health care and health education."

At the time, Nardello's plan was to leave the field of dental hygiene in exchange for a career as a health educator. "Getting a job in health education was not as easy as I thought," said Nardello, who decided to continue working as a dental hygienist at a private pedodontic office. "I didn't officially end up doing anything with the health education degree."

In 1986, Nardello left the affluent private practice where she had worked for nine years and took a position as a public health dental hygienist, providing much-needed oral health care for public school students at school-based health centers. "When I came here to the Hartford school system, it was like coming to a Third World country," said Nardello. "Hartford is the fifth poorest city in the country; 68 percent of our population qualifies for Medicaid."

Among other factors, the dire condition of the students' oral health motivated Nardello to enter the political arena. "I was absolutely amazed by the needs of the children here, which spurred my advocacy because I felt very strongly that these needs were being ignored by the state," said Nardello. "I also felt that dental hygiene had a very special role in meeting the needs of these children and I needed to advocate for the role of the dental hygienist in doing this."

Although Nardello's exact schedule varies from day to day, she manages to maintain a balance between her dental hygiene job at Hartford and her role as state representative. "In essence I have two full-time jobs," said Nardello, who works most nights until midnight and is up the next morning by 6. "It is extremely demanding and can be both rewarding and disappointing. The rewards are great but the disappointments are also great."

Although she may not stay long, Nardello stops by the Hartford clinic every day to make sure everything is running properly. The length of time that she stays depends on what is going on at the legislature. If she can spend either half the day or the whole day at the clinic, she will treat patients. If clinic time is limited, she'll take care of paperwork and head to the Capitol, which is also located in Hartford.

Nardello's ability to survive her hectic schedule stems from her dedication to helping others and furthering the dental hygiene profession. "I am passionate and I have a great deal of energy and I put a lot of energy into the issues I believe in," said Nardello. "Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose."

Nardello attributes her success in serving the 89th Assembly District, which includes the towns of Bethany, part of Cheshire and Prospect, to the fact that she is seen by her constituents as a real person and not just a politician. "People tell me all the time that I'm not a typical politician, and I am not," said Nardello. "I tend to be incredibly honest. I don't always tell them what they want to hear, I tell them the truth."

Nardello spends a lot of her time communicating with her constituents. In fact, she personally answers every email-up to 250 a day at the end of the legislative session-and phone call. "I think the fact that I've had a personal touch with my constituents-they don't call me Representative Nardello, they call me Vickie-has really been a large element of my success," said Nardello. "Honesty and integrity are so incredibly important to me. I've always tried to be the type of person in politics that I would want to see there."

Nardello serves as the Assistant Majority Leader and is a member of the Public Health Committee, the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, and the Energy Committee. She is a member of the Medicaid Managed Care Council and chairs the Public Health Subcommittee of that council. She is a member of the National Council of State Legislatures' Health Policy Forum and The Eastern Region of the Council of State Governments' Electrical Restructuring Committee.

Nardello believes her real strengths to be public health and energy issues. "It's a natural as to why it has been public health because that is where my heart is," said Nardello. "However, I never expected to become an expert in energy issue."

After taking over as vice chair of the Energy Committee, Nardello had a lot to learn. "As I began this, I did a great deal of research into energy issues; it was really my crash college course," said Nardello. "I thought, if I'm going to do this, I want to do it well. I really took it on as my role to represent the consumer as the ratepayer; there are very few people in energy that represent the consumers," said Nardello.

Like all professions, politics, too, has its drawbacks. "The thing I dislike the most [about politics] is the issue of money and politics and lobbyists," said Nardello. "Special interest groups have grown exponentially."

As the only dental professional in the Connecticut legislature, Nardello's colleagues have come to rely on her expertise. "I am very well grounded because I go to work every day and I understand the needs of average individuals," explained Nardello. "You need people in the legislature who understand the needs of average individuals because sometimes you can become out of touch."

Nardello has been a member of the American Dental Hygienists' Association for 35 years. To find out more about Vickie Nardello, please contact her via email at Vnardello@aol.com.

This edition of Working was prepared by Katie Barge.