Project Pillowcase aims to brighten stays for pediatric patients at Sacred Heart

Every day, kids at Providence Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital rest their heads on pillows covered with handmade cases lovingly sewn by a group of women at Touchmark South Hill.

The pillowcases feature prints and vibrantly colored fabrics designed to appeal to young patients.

“It was all my daughter’s (Barbara O’Neill) idea,” said Patricia Grist, who leads the group of eight seamstresses. “She was looking for a project and thought about making blankets.”

However, when O’Neill spoke with Tony Schuh, family resource coordinator at Providence Sacred Heart, she learned they really needed pillowcases.

“The pillowcases end up on in-patient pediatric beds, along with a blanket and a stuffed animal,” said Schuh. “It brings comfort and a sense of home and decreases the scariness and anxiety of coming into a hospital room.”

For many years a local chapter of Ryan’s Case for Smiles had sewn the cases, but last year the group closed.

Knowing her mother’s talent with needle and thread, and confident Grist would find others with a similar knack at Touchmark, O’Neill became the fabric shopper and supplier.

“The first time she brought us fabric, she came with 30 bolts!” said Grist, who recruited seven women to join her in Project Pillowcase.

Grist cuts the fabric into three sections, case, cuff and trim, and assembles the pieces into kits which she delivers to her team.

“I always have a few kits in my walker,” she said. “It’s unreal how they go out and come back so quickly!”

Her friends provide the thread and sew the cases in their own sewing rooms.

“Everyone usually has a stash of thread they want to use.”

Bev Kuhn is one of the friends Grist asked to help with the project.

“It takes me about 20 minutes to make one,” said Kuhn. “The first one is your trial, after that, it’s a piece of cake.”

She learned to sew in Home-Ec class.

“A furniture store needed draperies, so I did that,” she recalled. “I got paid 25 cents an hour.”

When she married and had three daughters, sewing became a necessity.

Likewise with Grist, who had four daughters. Her skills don’t stop with the pillowcases. She also leads Touchmark’s Yarn Crafters. That group of a dozen or more ladies meets once a week to knit and crochet lap throws for Deaconess Hospital’s ‘No One Dies Alone’ program.

Grist and Kuhn said space for their sewing machines is one of the main reasons they chose to live at Touchmark.

“We all enjoy this, we really do,” said Kuhn about Project Pillowcase. “The process isn’t demanding and offers instant gratification.”

Grist agreed.

“We never make just one at a time, usually three or four,” she said. “There’s lots of pinning, then sewing, then ironing. I used to say I could make eight in a day if I wanted to.”

Kuhn laughed.

“All that ironing and the hospital launders them before use!”

Both ladies love that the child gets to take the pillowcase home with them when they leave.

“So, it’s not such a bad remembrance,” said Grist.

In fact, Schuh said a mother told him her daughter took her pillowcase with her when she went off to college.

Stories like that keep the members of Project Pillowcase sewing.

“This makes you feel good,” said Kuhn. “My motto is busy hands are happy hands.”

Busy indeed.

“Since October, we’ve made at least 1,500 cases,” Grist said.

Her daughter delivers them to the hospital, but if she’s unavailable, Schuh comes and picks them up. He said this time of year the hospital often runs low on blankets, stuffed animals and the pillowcases.

“These are wonderful ladies, who are sharing their amazing skills,” he said.

Grist and her team find a sense of purpose in the pillowcases.

“I know it’s helping kids and it’s something I can do,” she said. “It’s fulfilling.”

Individuals interested in donating blankets, stuffed animals or pillowcases can contact Tony Schuh at Anthony.schuh@providence.