To our members, volunteers, donors, group leaders, and friends:

Thank you so much for your support of Health Hope Network (formerly Visiting Nurse Foundation) over the years. Your help enabled us to bridge a wellness gap by offering free rehabilitation services for stroke survivors in this region hoping to return to their prestroke lives.

I am writing, however, to tell you that the Stroke Survivor Connection program has been suspended as of May 1 due to lack of funding. We have been working diligently to find alternative funding. Unfortunately, a funding source has not been found. Therefore, it is with great sadness that we must dissolve Health Hope Network.

For over 40 years, Stroke Survivor Connection has offered rehabilitation and support to stroke survivors and caregivers. Until recently, we relied on self-generated revenues from flu shots, as well as foundation and corporate support to fund our core stroke services. But dramatic changes in injection regulations (which negatively affected our flu shot program) combined with the recent economic downturn, brought these revenue streams to an abrupt halt.

What is worse, because we had never relied on government or foundation dollars in the past, we are virtually unknown to local funders when we need them most, in a time when many are only funding organizations they have worked with in the past. This unfortunate situation has led to a point where our only option is to close the organization.

This program is extremely important in this region. We are pursuing ways to keep the groups open, but without the structure of Health Hope Network behind them. Our main goal is to sustain some portion of the services to stroke survivors in this region in some way despite our closing.

At the moment, numerous Stroke Survivor Connection rehabilitative support groups are continuing to operate on their own. Please click here for a list of active groups.

My sincere thanks go out to all of our supporters over the years.

Dotti G. Bechtol
Executive Director, Health Hope Network