To the editor:

The Saranac Lake Health Association is a life changing resource for those who need it, providing free professional nursing, a school dental hygienist, along with audiological and dental aid to those who would otherwise fall through the gaps in the health care system.

Saranac Lake Health Association is a state Licensed Home Care Service Agency. The professional nurses provide home visits to many of our elderly and infirm allowing them to remain in their home. SLHA’s impact can also be seen in the freedom to smile for hundreds of individuals who received the dental care they could not afford on their own. Since its inception, it has been the residents of the Saranac Lake Central School District who have funded and sustained the organization.

SLHA wants to continue to be “Your Helping Hand.”

It all began in 1897 as the District Nurse Association, providing home nursing care to TB patients in private cure cottages. When the Saranac Lake Society for the Prevention of TB was started as the first chapter of the National TB Society in 1907, it absorbed the District Nurse Association.

For most of the 20th century, it continued as the TB Society with its nursing mission and other projects like providing local ambulance service for 60 years. With advances in the treatment of TB, in 1972, the National TB Society was consolidating chapters; and, in order to honor bequests to provide services in the Saranac Lake area, the local chapter separated and became incorporated as the Saranac Lake Voluntary Health Association.

The Saranac Lake Voluntary Health Association is marking its 125th year of providing health related services with a rebranding. Although the agency has been an integral part of the fabric of the Saranac Lake community for well over a century, it remains a bit of a mystery. It is important that residents know how to access the services; and supporters who wish to keep the agency strong, know how to donate. Thus, the board of directors’ Development Committee is working to end the mystery by simplifying the name and updating the website.

Utilizing a coordinated grant from the Adirondack Foundation and Hudson Headwaters Health Network, local professionals have been engaged to assist in this rebranding project. Recently, approval was obtained from the state Department of State to begin using the simplified name indicated above: Saranac Lake Health Association. New signage with a new logo will be installed soon at the Main Street office and the updated website has recently been launched. Visit: Saranaclakevha.org.

Also, this year SLHA is welcoming Registered Dental Hygienist Patty Peebles, who will be replacing retired Suzanne Snizek as the school district’s hygienist, providing dental exams, education and treatments available for all the elementary students.

Peggy Wiltberger

Saranac Lake