Dear Friends,

Inflate the balloons!  Unfurl the banners!  Pop the corks! The NYCCHCD’s Happy Birthday 10^th Anniversary celebration is underway.

To a roll of the drums comes the towering birthday cake, symbolically decorated with the events of our past 10 years – heralding a significant Candle Lighting Ceremony.  With solemnity and joy, eleven candles to be lit, 10 in fulfillment of the dreams of our yesterdays, and the 11^th – “one to grow on” – for the promises of our tomorrows.

The theme song for this celebration is an easily identifiable melody.  Extemporaneously composed, it incorporates the strong notes of grassroots, community, medical care compassion and cultural diversity with all their sharps and flats. At first quietly hummed by the impassioned founders, it was soon joined by the swelling choruses of supporting members and friends.  Always accepting of variations and improvisations, while emphasizing repetition, harmony and rhythm, it plays to the multiple needs of multiple audiences.

Our past performances have been publicized, evaluated, analyzed:  we rank in the highest scoring percentile on creativity and derring-do!  We have been applauded for our temerity in entering the fray of the “Physician Assisted Suicide” debate, featuring Dr. Timothy Quill not once but twice at major conferences; for assembling representatives from managed care organizations, health care providers, the media and the lay citizenry to “go for it” on the issue of managed care; for speaking in praise of the concepts of hospice and palliative care early on when even pronouncing those words, let alone accepting their philosophy, was difficult – the no-no’s of death and dying public discussions.

And, while we’re on this self-indulgent congratulatory trip, we’ve been commended for our loyalty to our revered colleague Dr. David Finley, with the Finley Memorial Colloquium, which brought forth luminaries to honor him.  We have earned additional “Brownie Points” for our forays into the broader based worlds of public health for sponsoring “The Epidemiology of Violence,” and that which reflects on “Humor As An Essential Healing Tool,” as experienced by Thomas Lynch, humorist, poet, and author who most recently was featured on the Bill Moyers’ television series, “On Our Own Terms.”

Clearly, all of the above speaks to precisely who we have always been and always will be:  unique, grassroots and for the community! 

 Now – on to the future – our growth potential and how to achieve it.  In considering the options – join us – be creative!  Imagine the corollary to the human growth hormone in medicine to be the Capital Campaign for institutional growth.  And while this concept holds for those who can launch a building fund for structural bricks and mortar, it still yields to a fascinating elasticity enabling NYCCHCD, as an organization, to view it as appropriate for infrastructural enhancement.  Think about it!  Growth is Growth!  Wherever, however and whenever, it carries a functional common denominator of benefit to the community and for the common good of its citizenry!

 With every day, horizons of the bioethics universe rise and broaden:  new possibilities for expansion of our program roster emerge – renewed collaborative ventures abound.  For example, two professional institutions, one legal and one medical, have approached us to consider tailoring our volunteer training program to their specific needs.  And, thanks to the technology of e-mail and web sites, requests for programs on every aspect of our mission keep coming in.

Yes – we are eager to go for the gold! Yes – we are prudent and watchful – careful not to overstep our staffing and financial capabilities. Yes – we are frustrated by our limitations!

At this junction in our organizational life, we despair of having to tread water when the instinct is to plunge in!We’re ready – to get set – to go! We look to you - old friends and new, members, loyal supporters, new benefactors – to blow that starting whistle for us!

Thank you,

Beatrice W. Greenbaum, Chairperson