Rushden Echo, 1^st March 1912

The Committee of the Rushden Nursing Association has had brought under its notice recently the misunderstanding that exists in the town as to the connection between the Nursing Association and the newly-formed Cottage Hospital in Griffith-street. The position was still further confused by some notes on the subject, which appeared in a contemporary a few weeks ago. In the circumstances it appears desirable to issue a plain statement which shall once and for all remove all misunderstanding.

First and foremost, it must be stated that the Nursing Association and the Cottage Hospital are entirely separate organisations. They are managed by separate bodies of people, and the funds of the two institutions are absolutely separate one from the other. The Cottage Hospital is in no sense whatever a branch of the Nursing Association work. Each institution exists for a separate purpose, which it carries out in its own way, and both make a strong, though definitely distinct, appeal to the charitable instincts of the town.

The Essential Point

to be remembered is that every penny of the money contributed to either of these institutions is devoted solely to the object for which it is given. As the Cottage Hospital, however, could not carry out its work without nursing aid, arrangements were entered into between the two bodies, whereby the Nursing Association lend the services of its nurses (under certain specified conditions) to the Cottage Hospital Board, and, in return for this, possess the right to appoint annually four members to serve on the Board. Then, too, it was most convenient for the nurses working under the Association to live close to the hospital, so that there might be no delay in obtaining their services when required, and this is why the Nurses’ Home and Cottage Hospital adjoin one another.

The Nursing Association has long ago, by its excellent work, captured the imagination and secured the practical support of all sections of the Rushden public. It is to be hoped that all this support will continue to be given. The Cottage Hospital is so recently formed that its benefits have not had time to be appreciated but that these will be considerable, and that they will increase as years go on, seems certain, so that they, too, have a claim upon the generosity of the town.