Victorian Order Of Nurses, Bridgetown, NS

In the Canada of the late 1890s, nurses, doctors and hospitals were desperately needed in remote areas and in rapidly growing towns and cities. VON's non-profit role will continue to provide governments with services that fulfill universal public health care programs, while the development of related service ventures will provide new revenues to supplement existing funding for VON's charitable services. As decreasing health dollars leave government-funded programs struggling to meet demands, the need for charitable services in Canada is increasing. Through the successful fundraising efforts of VON's second honorary president, Lady Minto, 43 more hospitals were soon established in local communities and within isolated areas throughout Canada. Responsibility for running these institutions was gradually assumed by community groups, with the last VON-run hospital being placed in the hands of local citizens in 1924. During the aftermath of the horrific explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax harbour in 1917...through a deadly influenza epidemic in 1918, on through two world wars...a great depression...the advent of modern medicare and high tech' medicine --- VON has continued to innovate to meet the changing health care needs of Canadian society.