To the editor:

The Visiting Nurses Assn. helps a broader range of clients than just ill elderly patients who want to live at home.

In January 2000, my late husband underwent surgery for cancer that left him with an ileostomy and a grim prognosis. He was sent home from the hospital on a Saturday with little teaching and no experience in changing his ostomy appliance — and with no referral to any community agency.

Inevitably, a crisis occurred the next day when his ill-fitting appliance began to leak. The VNA responded to our frantic pleas for help — even without a referral. During three visits in a 24-hour period, each nurse was cheerful and relentlessly upbeat as we dealt with an overwhelming problem.

The visiting nurses worked with my husband to find exactly the right appliance and techniques for his difficult-to-fit ostomy, and helped him develop the skill and the confidence to manage it on his own. They never treated him as an invalid, but talked instead of all the activities he would be able to enjoy. Thanks to the compassion, skill and professionalism of the visiting nurses, my husband’s remaining 14 months of life were vastly more pleasant than they would have been without the help of the VNA.

I hope the county commissioners will remember that they, too, might be just one tumor away from grim reality, from needing this kind of service. The VNA is a resource that Douglas County simply cannot afford to lose.

Bonnie Briscoe,

Lawrence