| 2012 Annual Appeal |
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 2012 Annual AppealDonate now: Online By Mail George was stressed. His wife of 27 years was hospitalized 30 miles from home - she was sent there from rehab after being transferred from hospital to SNF to rehab where she relapsed. He spent most of the evening crying and wondering about their future. Connie works full-time while her husband lives in a skilled nursing facility. She keeps the house up as well as she can and visits him 6 out of 7 nights after work- for the past four years. By the time she returns home she is too tired to do anything for herself. Jill cares for her TBI husband at home. He is often argumentative and usually ungrateful due to the loss of cognition. She works part-time for needed income while raising her 4 and 6 year olds. The kids cannot understand why their Dad is different. Jill spends a good deal of time applying for assistance from Medicaid and state agencies in an effort to keep her family in their home. Lenny had a motorcycle accident 8 months after he married June. June is 24 and pregnant. She is lost and afraid of what the future might bring. Lenny has recovered and can now perform his own ADLs but the doctors say he will never recover full function. Jeff cares for his wife Helen. He retired early to supply her necessary care. Jeff has suffered from a torn rotator cuff for years but cannot find the time (or coverage for Helen) that would allow him to care for his own medical needs. Ann lives in a beautiful home and is financially secure. She is the primary caregiver for her husband who has suffered from MS for 17 years and is now confined to his hospital bed. In the past six years Ann has only left the house to go shopping and to attend to the medical needs of her husband. Jim's wife of 32 years passed away in June after a 9 year battle with Parkinson's. He sits around home having lost interest in everything he (they) enjoyed in the past. He ignores their old friends. These people have one thing in common - they are all prime candidates for membership in The Well Spouse™ Association. Wonderful! There is help and support available! BUT THERE CAN BE NO WELL SPOUSE™ ASSOCIATION WITHOUT YOU! Our Well Spouse family needs your help to survive. In these troubled economic times funding, through grants and agencies, has dried to a trickle. We continue to take action to conserve finances through numerous cost cutting measures. We have converted Mainstay to an on-line publication in order to conserve operating funds, and through adroit planning have run two break-even conferences in a row. Utilities, rent, internet charges, license fees and supplies all continue to increase in cost and place a strain on our organization and what we can do to help others. We have also embarked on a campaign to spread the word about WSA. There are nearly 4,000,000 current spousal caregivers in America alone, with a similar amount of formers (FWS.) Our membership includes only 1,100 supporting members and 2,000 forum users. We started production of a video at our Atlanta Conference which should be ready for distribution this year. We hope to greatly increase our membership by distributing this video through public television, medical facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs,) VA, hospitals and physician's offices) as well as state agencies. If we can get funding through a grant we will consider interstitial advertisements in major markets. We realize that just as with Well Spouse most of us face fiscal challenges that can overwhelm us - in a perfect world we would not fall through the social safety-net,and our spouses would have well funded medical care and long-term care as well. Yet if we want our WSA Family to continue we need your help. Those of you who have given in the past, we thank you for your support, but must once again call upon you for assistance in carrying out our mission. We also encourage first-time givers. Donations of any amount you can afford are welcome and badly needed. Finally, we ask that you pass this letter on to your family and friends. Many people offer to help us but do not know how, or cannot provide hands-on-assistance. This is a great opportunity to give them a way to help us all. We need each other more than ever. Together we can make a difference. Remember that all donations are tax deductible. Larry Lawrence Bocchiere III, President, WSA Note: If you are currently a non-supporting (NS) member the first $30 of your donation will be used to make you a supporting member. (NS memberships are free for one year only, then you will be asked to become a supporting member, in order to maintain your WSA membership) |