THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9612160198
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 6 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: IDA KAY'S PORTSMOUTH
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: 62 lines
The long and lustrous history of the Portsmouth General Hospital Auxiliary is about to end on an ugly note.
What a shame!
The enmity among members arose over money.
The 65-year-old auxiliary is disbanding in the wake of the sale of Portsmouth General to Maryview-Bon Secours. As it turns out, the organization is in excellent financial shape - thanks to an old endowment from the wife and sister of O. Emmerson Smith. Their $50,000 principal gift, specifically earnmarked to help indigent citizens of Portsmouth get medical care, has tripled over the years even as the auxiliary has given proceeds to needy sick people.
With the $15,000 in the Smith memorial fund and another $50,000 or so from other gifts and projects, the auxiliary came to its demise with a healthy bank account.
The auxiliary board voted to give the money to Eastern Medical School for a scholarship to be given in the name of the auxiliary to a students with Portsmouth ties.
However, at the final luncheon a month ago - an affair that turned from sentimental to nasty - members voted against the plan to send the money out of the city.
Many left left the luncheon expecting to be called for a later meeting to discuss other possibilities for the use of the money.
Then, a few days ago auxiliary president J. Norman Willet sent out a letter saying the board was not changing its mind, that it has the authority to make the determination and that the money will be given to the medical school.
Many members of the auxiliary who attended the final luncheon and who voted against the scholarship plan are not happy that the board has decided to ignore their concerns.
Theirs is an normal reaction. And I wonder if the board is acting wisely when it acts so independently.
The board members feel that a scholarship endowment has two magor advantages: it will keep the name of the hospital and its auxiliary alive in perpetuity and it will assit Portsmouth medical students.
But, as good as those reasons are, does the endowment do what O. Emmerson Smith's wife and sister intended?
The city has many indigent and/or uninsured citizens who need medical care. There are many places and many ways the proceeds from a $200,000 investment could be used to ease the burdens for them and their families, so it's not as if there's no way to carry out the original intent of the Smith family donation.
Whatever they decide to do with the $200,00, the auxiliary board should be more mindful of the feelings of the many other members of the organization who have given so many hours and so much energy to Portsmouth General Hospital. They also helped raise a large part of the money that will be going into the scholarship fund.
Portsmouth already has enough schisms. We don't need to create any more. Willet would be wise to call a meeting to give everybody a chance to speak, including board members who favor the scholarship.
By hashing out differences, perhaps auxiliary members can let the organizations die peacefully.
KEYWORDS: by CNB