Reaching out to pediatric patients at Congress
While at Congress, members of the Pediatrics Specialty Assembly (SA) decided to create a community project that would make a pediatric cancer patient smile and brighten their day. So, Stella Harrington, RN, BSN, CNOR, and members of her Pediatrics SA, decided to make pillowcases for sick children in Chicago, as part of the ConKerr Cancer project. What began as a small project for the SA, has become an association-wide project with members of numerous SAs creating more than 300 pillow cases for the project.
Members of the Pediatrics SA display some of the
pillowcases donated at Congress.
Harrington sewed over 50 pillowcases herself, creating brightly-patterned cases with sports, Disney and animal themes to cheer up sick children like the perioperative patients she cares for at Children’s Hospital Boston.
“We (the Pediatrics SA Coordinating Council) thought it would be great if we could identify a community project that would be fun and productive. We were looking for a community project that would offer satisfaction and pride that comes from helping others, especially sick children. We were also looking for a project that would unite all members of the Pediatics SA,” explained Harrington. “It’s a ‘feel good’ project.”
ConKerr Cancer: A Case for Smiles is a national project started in 2002, when Cindy Kerr began making pillow cases to brighten her son Ryan’s hospital room after he was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer. While Ryan lost his battle with cancer in 2008, the not-for-profit ConKerr pillow project continues, providing nearly 35,000 pillow cases to sick children in hospitals across North and South America.
To learn more about the ConKerr Cancer: A Case for Smiles project, visit http://www.conkerrcancer.org/. Find more information about AORN’s Pediatrics SA.
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