By Megan Krischke, contributor
Everyone has experienced the comfort of a blanket, whether the childhood “blankie” with the satin edges, or the warm quilt over the bed made with a grandmother’s love, or a simple afghan kept on the sofa to snuggle into while reading or watching television. In providing end-of-life care, Barbara Holfelner, RN, MSN, understands the soothing effect of a warm blanket.
In summer 2006, Holfelner was inspired to start a “Blessing Quilt” program at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden, New Jersey, where she works as the vice president of patient care services and risk management. The Blessing Quilt program provides a homemade afghan to patients in their final hours. The hope is that the quilt will not only bring warmth, consolation, and dignity to the patient, but will also be a solace to family members in their time of loss. Each quilt comes in a special bag, along with a prayer of comfort for the grieving family.
“The Blessing Quilt really complements the whole program we have for comforting the family and the patient in life and in death” Holfelner said. “We also have prayers available to families, a bereavement tray of food, expanded visiting hours, and we work with pain control for the patient. I’ve never known a family who didn’t want a quilt.”
The major challenge in starting the Blessing Quilt program was finding a steady source of blankets at an affordable price. Holfelner started by contacting local knitting circles, but no one was able to handle the volume of 12 or so blankets per week. After this approach proved unfruitful, Holfelner turned to hospital gift shop manager, Susan Woods, for assistance. Woods searched the internet to no avail, until she finally decided to take a look at eBay.
It was on eBay that Woods connected with Jaana Wallace, who lives in Portland, Oregon, and runs an online linens business. Wallace’s business was able to meet the hospital’s demand and because the purpose of the project touched her heart, Wallace was willing to provide the afghans at a minimal price. Wallace frequents estate sales and church bazaars in her search for the new, or like new, afghans that become Blessing Quilts. “I think it is a fantastic cause,” Wallace, a former health care worker, remarked. “[The Lady of Lourdes staff] also sent me a letter that one of the families had written them and it was so touching that I actually cried reading it.”
The pain a patient experiences at the end of their life is not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual. The Blessing Quilt does what medicine cannot—it eases the soul and, as the accompanying prayer suggests, it is a physical symbol of love when words fail us:
“As You have blanketed the hills with flowers
As You have covered the earth with every good gift
so now we cover our loved one with this quilt, this sign of our affection.”
© 2007. AMN Healthcare, Inc. All Rights Reserved.