how can I make a difference?

[wishiwereanurse, BSN, RN]

Hi. It's 3 am and I can't go to sleep. I've been thinking of this for some time. The hospital in my neighborhood is threatened to close if they can't raise enough money in a month to sustain the facility. As a nurse and as a patient, I know how valuable it is to have a hospital in my backyard. The next hospital is around 30-40 minutes away... if they take out the hospital, i can just imagine how terrible it'd be if we still have to travel for emergencies. My community is small, and made up mostly of families with little kids, and retirees.

I ask myself, "what can I do?" And I thought maybe I could do fundraising, but carwashes, benefit breakfast/dinners, ice cream socials, that kind of stuff won't raise enough funds... I think I want to do a walk-a-thon and have sponsors give a certain amount of pledge for every mile I walk. Could that work?

But my problem is i'm new to the community, so I don't know much people yet. How do I get people to be involved with this stuff, like sponsors, the people in the hospital, people in the community... I have this big idea that I don't know if it can work or not, I don't know how or where to start, but it frustrates me that if I just let these ideas go, maybe the end result can be the loss of the hospital. I'm not like seeking to become superman and save the hospital, but I want to help really, because I see my neighbors everyday and they do need this.

I hope there's someone out there who can be my guiding light..I wanna do this but I'm clueless. I always see people make impossible things possible so maybe this is possible too...

[lpnflorida, LPN]

Find out who the hospital Press Represetative is> Perhaps they can assist in developing some of your ideas.

All great ideas start with the first person, who shared with the next person.

[nessajune21]

A car wash won't be enough.

Perhaps contact your local news station to get the story out and ask all the local businesses to donate to the hospital.

I'm sure the hospital is doing all they can do to stay open as well. I would feel lost as to help as well. Good luck!

[joannep]

I think you may have to contact a service organisation for help such as Rotary International. They have a vast membership and may be in a position to help.