Community Nurse celebrated its 90^th anniversary on October 13th by hosting a community-wide celebration under a tent in the Calendar Avenue parking lot to commemorate the original Community Nurse clinic location.

The celebration was a thank-you to the community for 90 years of support. Almost 300 people attended including patients, volunteers, staff, providers, donors, funders and local and state officials. The evening included a photographical and historical retrospective of the organization; tributes to the many volunteer healthcare providers, other volunteers and community groups and individuals who have supported the agency; and the announcement of significant gifts to the agency in recognition of its 90-year legacy. The showcase of the evening was the sculptural tree, commissioned by Community Nurse, to signify the deep roots the agency has in the community.  Guests added to the tree both leaves with notes of support and red apples signifying donations made in honor of the 90^th anniversary.

Judy Barr Topinka, Illinois Comptroller, and Liz Asperger, La Grange Village President, both presented Community Nurse with proclamations honoring its vital role in providing quality healthcare services for residents of the western suburbs. Rick Wright, CEO of Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital, presented a gift of $90,000 to support the expansion of clinical space  and Dan Hennebry, President of First National Bank of La Grange, challenged the attendees to match his bank’s gift of $10,000. In addition to those very special gifts, more than $10,000 was raised that evening. Finishing the program, Jim Durkan of the Community Memorial Foundation,  which has granted $5 million to  Community Nurse since 1996, led a champagne toast to the continuing success of the organization’s  “neighbors helping neighbors” efforts.

The celebration is a “kick-off” to Community Nurse’s year –long anniversary celebration.  Other events, speaking engagements and community outreach will continue as Community Nurse continues to thank the community for its long-standing support and to bring attention to the unmet healthcare needs of low-income residents of the western suburbs.

In a 1944 history of Community Nurse, author Florence Carr, a vice-president of the organization, wrote this tribute to the organization:

       “The Association is comparable to a tree in many respects, with the tap or main root representing the nurse and her work, and the branches the many different activities taken up. Some of the branches have either died off or have been cut off, but they filled a very definite need  at one time and their usefulness always will be remembered  and their going never regretted, for there have been new branches to take their place every time.

      The tree will live as long as the tap root is not harmed in any way and the tap root cannot be harmed by any changes in the branches. So long as nothing strikes at the basic good of the Association it will live and prosper… since the nursing and clinics are the main and only unchanging work …

      The confidence and love (of the community) never has wavered, proving that the tree seedling had good care, for it has grown to a sturdy, strong, full-sized tree.”