Crafting a Healing Environment

When you’re sick, it’s the little things that bring comfort: a soft blanket, the company of a loved one, a teddy bear to make you feel like a kid again and put a smile on your face.

At St. Mary Medical Center, hundreds of volunteers work day in and day out to make sure the sickest of the sick feel as comfortable as possible.  And now, a class of Newtown Elementary School third graders will join the effort.

The hospital's Healing Environments program, which began three years ago, provides handmade comfort items to patients suffering from cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Volunteer crafters, who range in age from 5 to 100 years old, prepare the handmade items, which include blankets, hats, and bears. The items are then distributed room to room on what the hospital calls “the comfort cart.”

This week, Ann Young’s third grade class will begin making blankets for the hospital’s Healing Environments program.

Joan Portman, the hospital’s healing coordinator, visited the third-grade class last week to give an overview of the program and show some examples of the items that are distributed to patients.

“When you’re not feeling well, you know you need things to comfort you. And our patients, even though they are adults, they need the same things,” Portman said.

Patients in the oncology unit, those undergoing dialysis, and hospice patients select a blanket or item of their choice. Small hats are made and given the newborns in the maternity unit.

The blankets don’t only serve as a source for physical comfort; they brighten up the bare hospital room to create a warm, homey setting.

The reaction from the patients is one of joy and gratitude, Portman said. “They love it,” she said. “The tears come sometimes but they’re happy tears.”

Portman was inspired to start the Healing Environments program when her father-in-law was suffering from cancer. She brought a blanket to the hospital that was made by his late wife. “It meant so much to him to have something that her hands had touched,” Portman said.

But while not every blanket has such a meaningful significance, the fact that they are handmade and colorful adds cheer and joy to the lives of the patients.

The students in Young’s class collected donations from their family members to buy the fleece material that will be used for the blankets. This week, Kathy Skalish, a parent and a St. Mary’s volunteer, will return to the classroom to help the students create the blankets.

Portman said since the inception of the Healing Environments program, more than 2,700 blankets have been distributed. In addition to the blankets, 7,500 total items have been given out on the comfort cart. “Our volunteers have contributed over 74,000 hours,” Portman said.

For more information on the program or to volunteer, contact Portman at JPortman1@stmaryhealthcare.org.