The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-02-20

OVcT ttle CoutltEyl " Wuo kA6ut AVE us to spend that money, Now 1t is gone, and unless the V, N, A. cole lects Sl6,O00 in It's drive, which Is $S000 more than it collected last year, 1t is faced with Q drastic curtailment of service for the city. Last fall many of the Board of Directors felt that we should take the stand right then and not presume that we could collect this year more money than last, As Q matter of fact 1t is evident that in collecting this $l6,000 we could not in way be making up any de- felt that we have heretofore incur red. believe the time is past when the Visiting Nurse Associa- ton can be supported by the group of some four hundred and fifty people who have carried 1t on in past years, It is because we firmly believe that the work of the Visiting Nurse Association and its support have heretofore been taken for granted and that once the facts are told. public opinion would be aroused to support ,t, that to this end the Directors, many of them against their better judgment, voted to pass the bud- get set up by the Advisory Com mittee this year, If 1t is not raised we cannot continue our work at its present rate indefinitely but we can try at least.
 Stan Reduced
 During the depression years the Association reduced It's staff by four nurses. and this last year has been working with two part time substitutes in place of two other fully qualified public health nurses. A great many of our con- tributions. while they are very gen- erous, have been drastically re- duced, and in order to make that up. hundreds of people in Wa terbury who have never made the Visiting Nurse Association ser- ious consideration in their lives must be prevailed upon to help it now. If a person gave a contri- button of $200 heretofore he has been very very generous. If that contribution has to be reduced to $50 the giver is till making a gen- erous contribution, but 1t takes many many dollars from separate individuals to make up the differ ence.
 As the public well knows by now, the Association has earnestly en- deavored to prevail upon the City government to pay for some of its service on pro-rata basis, a system which is in force in the majority of cities in the United States. It is not true that such a plan would put the organization into politics" because in all the plans we have offered. we have tried to induce the City to pay for certain service. like the nursing of communicable diseases, and the care of poor on relief. both of which are recognized as the City's business. and have urged in vain. The Department of Public Health and the Welfare Department ap- preciate the situation and en. dorsed our proposals. but aS you know we were turned down.
 People have asked me what branch of the service will have to be shut off in case we do not meet our funds and have to say that personally I can not face 1t un- til I have to. but without serious study believe that 1t would mean reducing the area. of our nursing service. The Board of Directors are determined not to reduce the quality of our work, and the best advice that we can get from the National Order of Public Health Nursing is to reduce the variety of our work rather than to try to spread fewer nurses across the whole job. overworking them and consequently reducing the quality. In whatever plan we set up for curtailment of the service if 1t is necessary. 1t has got to be one that uses the nurses with the greatest efficiency and makes the money that we have serve ably the biggest number of people.
 The Finance Committee under Mr. Hunt has been working for weeks on plans for the drive. The papers have been very generous with publicity and l am sure are going to be more SO. especially during the drive. In addition to our regular appeals. some 4,000 Iet- ters with coin cards are going out to prospective givers and in addi- tion the Waterbury Democrat has generously consented to put on a campaign for contributions. be- lieve that the majority of the new contributions have got to come from people who have never seen a bond or heard of a dividend ex- cept to read about them and while I know that there are thousands of people in Waterbury who can not give a cent. to carry on this work. I appreciate also that there are thousands who could give at least Si.00 and who at the end Of the year would not feel the loss of 1t. The coin cards will provide the means of sending $1.04 which would cover the cost of postage and one visit to someone who can not pay for 1t. but to those who cannot give that much we se- riously urge them to send in what they can and 1t will be most well come, and conscientiously spent.
 By other methods Of publicity we shall justify and explain the serv- ices of the Visiting Nurse ASsocia- tion. The function of this letter is solely to inform the public Of the financial situation of the AS- sociation and the imminent dang CT of the curtailment of it's seTv- ice If the public does not respond.
 CAROLINE SHERRY.