Dissolution of tradition: a reprise

Last summer, within the pages of this journal, an essay described the uncertainty surrounding the future of our small but independent VNA ("Dissolution of Tradition into Fantasy: A Lament," May/June, 1996). Supposedly, harsh financial pressures bombarded us and our Board began an inexorable movement toward affiliation with a powerful local hospital. When professional staff became jittery, Board representatives soothed us. This anxious period, given the decidedly unromantic coinage "due diligence," was likened to a courtship phase, an arranged engagement of sorts. Cold feet, second thoughts, panic attacks, and troubled dreams--all were to be expected, considered perfectly natural. All would be forgotten in the bliss of connubial union. Be patient and trust, we were advised; the consummation would make it all worthwhile. And we tried. What has transpired between last summer and this spring, however, exceeded our most vivid nightmare. Betrayed and angry, we scrambled to save what we could of our VNA before it was consigned to obsolescence in this, the year of our centennial.