Giving the Gift of Comfort
Knitters are natural gift givers; the babies in their lives get blankets and booties, nephews and nieces get mittens and scarves, and there are sweaters for spouses, siblings and friends. There’s nothing better than a cozy handmade gift from someone you love – except maybe a cozy handmade gift from someone you don’t know.
Last year, nurses, lab technicians, practice managers, secretaries, administrators, analysts, volunteers and other members of the DHMC community knit and crocheted 70 shawls for family caregivers. The knitters knew very little about who would receive the shawls they created, just that they were suffering the stress and anxiety that often accompanies the responsibility of caring for an aging spouse, parent, or relative.
"Eighty percent of care for older adults in the U.S. is provided by family caregivers," says Jeanne Childs, MA, BCC, Chaplain at the Aging Resource Center. "Many caregivers, 30 to 50 percent, are also employed full- or part-time and many still care for their own children. The intensity of the responsibility often leads to issues of the spirit that may not diagnosable yet but which add to caregivers’ health risks like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, and depression."
The Aging Resource Center supports the essential role of family caregiver by providing outreach, resources (including referrals to local organizations that provide needed services) and support groups like Childs’ Nurturing the Spirit for Family Caregivers. Sometimes though, a simple, heartfelt gift, can give someone in a tough situation the support and encouragement they need.
The idea for a comfort shawl project was borrowed from Linda Piotrowski, a Chaplain in the Palliative Care Service. "Some of Linda’s volunteers were making comfort shawls for the patients," says Childs. "While they knit, they would pray or just think about the recipient and send all their good wishes and energy and care and love into the shawl. I saw how much the shawls were appreciated, how they gave people such a boost, and thought they’d be a wonderful gift for people in the caregiver support groups."
Penny Abbott, Administrative Coordinator in the Chaplaincy Department, got things going by announcing the project in CenterView and directing interest and shawls to Childs. The response was overwhelming and the shawls are clearly comforting the Aging Resource Center clients who received them.
"One shawl recipient wrote that she had watched over her husband for 10 years through his decline and eventual death," says Childs. "When she finally had to put him in a nursing home, she would come home at night, wrap herself in her shawl, and cry. Another told me that when she received her shawl she put it on and danced around the room; it made her feel happy and not alone. Still another wore her shawl when she was recently baptized."
As much as the shawls comfort the caregivers who receive them, they reward the knitters who make them. "I enjoy crocheting and needed an outlet for the things that I made, so there was nothing more rewarding than to give them to individuals who can enjoy and use them," says Sandra Dickau, Vice President, Patient Care. "As I crochet, I imagine someone wrapped in the warmth of the yarn and hope that part of my creative spirit can be enjoyed by them. " Donna Bean, Anesthesia Report Specialist, agrees that knitting is its own reward. "Knitting the shawl made me feel warm inside," she says. "It was great to know it would help someone get through a rough time in their life." Pat Steuer, Information Desk volunteer, found the project a great way to give back. "I know from personal experience what a loss can do to a person and how support comes in any form of caring and encouragement," she says. "It was a joy to knit the shawl and I’ve already started on another."
The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Aging Resource Center’s Comfort Shawl project continues to receive and give four to five shawls a month to caregivers in need of support.
