YNHH celebrates 100-year-old WWII nurse’s birthday

NEW HAVEN » Ola Ferla’s birthday cake came 11 days late, but she’s not counting.

At 100 years old, Ferla, a retired nurse who lived in Exeter in England for a year during World War II and bandaged U.S. soldiers wounded in 1944 at Normandy during D-Day, has seen many medical advances since when she was practicing.

“Half of it has kept me alive,” she said.

Her daughter, Sue Ferla, said her mother is actually in great health overall, requiring no pills to regulate her blood pressure.

Ferla does, however, travel from her home in Farmington to Smilow Cancer Hospital periodically for apheresis treatment for a blood condition. On Tuesday, Ferla’s first appointment in New Haven since her birthday, nurse Anna-Maria Milani had a cake prepared to celebrate the milestone.

Milani said she has been assigned to Ferla for four to five years and has learned a lot about her in that time.

“For the longest time, I didn’t even know she was a nurse,” Milani said. “She doesn’t act like a nurse when she’s here.”

Ferla is the oldest patient the hospital’s apheresis unit has seen, although she may not act like it.

“To do anything to anyone at 100 is a big thing,” Milani said. “She tolerates it well. She’s a very healthy woman and she’s been through a lot.”

For a gift, Edward Snyder, director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Blood Bank, dropped by for Ferla’s appointment.

“We’re both Red Sox fans, and she always asks about me,” he said. “The trick is to provide therapy to help her, but not too difficult for her to tolerate.”

Snyder said Ferla is “very spry.”

When Sue Ferla recounted the tale of her mother asking for her birthday decorations to be taken down, the elder Ferla mused that you can only celebrate a birthday for so many days.

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel,” Ferla said. “I put one foot in front of the other.”

Ola Ferla said she still does her own bills and shopping, and feels lucky.

During the day, she has two caretakers.

“She’s into her activities,” Milani said, which includes gardening.

BRIAN ZAHN/HEARST CONNECTICUT MEDIA Ola Ferla is hooked up for apheresis treatment by nurse Anna-Maria Milani as Blood Bank Director Edward Snyder speaks with Ferla.