Elsie Fernquist likes to joke that she just wanted to get out of cooking on Thursdays.
Fernquist and three other women became known as the sewers. She said her reasoning was that she wouldn’t have to cook dinner for her husband Robert on Thursdays. Robert will ask if they’re going to starve, and she’ll reply: “You know I don’t cook on Thursday.”
Jokes aside, the truth is that Fernquist, and her volunteer pals: Floreen Clark, Betty Maas and Dana Difford have formed a tight bond sewing blankets and burping bibs for new babies at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver. Maas has volunteered at the hospital for more than 40 years; together, the group combines for nearly 75 years of volunteer experience at PeaceHealth in a variety of different areas.
“We all look forward to Thursdays when we can get together,” Maas said.
Each of them can sew about eight bibs and eight blankets a day — there’s about 2,000 births at the hospital each year. And they can sew and stuff 10 prayer pillow hearts that are placed in the hospital’s chapel. New babies each get a bib, a blanket and a hat (which is usually crocheted by volunteers at home).
“It makes parents feel special. This is a special time in their life,” said Barb James, director of the Women’s and Children’s Services Line administration. “When they receive a gift from someone who has hand-made something from them, I think it makes our hospital feel warm and friendly, and I think parents really appreciate the personal touch that goes into those.”
The care packages are also distributed to premature babies born in the neonatal intensive care unit. To those babies, the clothes represent a sort of graduation, since they aren’t able to wear things immediately after birth. Once they can wear clothes, it’s a step forward, said Melanie Fain, a clinical manager with the NICU.
“The families can know that PeaceHealth is a supportive environment for them,” Fain said. “We can’t provide everything for them as they go out into the world, but it grounds the family to the concept that everyone has the right to basic necessities.”
The response to the clothes is usually one of endearment, an “Aww, thank you,” James said. In the NICU, since the babies are born so small, and develop greatly after birth, many parents will bring the clothes back after their child outgrows them.
“They received and they like to be able to support other families who are going through that challenge,” Fain said.
The sewing group is a jovial and joking bunch. Fernquist and Clark like to lovingly rib each other, and one time a PeaceHealth employee thought they were actually fighting for real.
The group will also discuss “world affairs,” as they like to say, grandchildren, and the highs and lows of life. They’ve also helped each other get through deaths of family and friends. But at the end of the day, their respect for volunteering is what drives them.
It’s important for people to volunteer,” Difford said. “You need to make a living and that’s important, but if you can give time to places like this or schools or anything, they need it.”
