September 5, 2008
Creating comfort: Hand-crafted blankets, kindness to CentraCare patientsBy Amy Bowen
abowen@stcloudtimes.com
Robert Hollis gets cold when he undergoes dialysis, but thanks to the kindness of three strangers, he keeps warm with a handmade afghan given to him free of charge.
“At first I thought I had to buy it. When they said you can have it, it was good,” said Robert Hollis, who started dialysis eight months ago and is hoping for a new kidney.
For almost 15 years, dialysis patients at CentraCare’s kidney program have found a little comfort from the soft blankets or shawls.
Three women volunteer their time to make the majority of blankets for the 150 patients who start dialysis each year. At any one time, the kidney center works with 250 patients.
“I wish I could go faster or find more people to help me,” said Cathy Largent, who provides her own yarn and estimates she puts in 10-15 hours per afghan.
Lovingly made
Largent wakes up at 4 a.m. to drink her coffee and crochet before heading off to work as a referral coordinator and scheduling specialist at the Central Minnesota Heart Center.
Cathy Sindelir, director of the dialysis program, spends her free time, too, making blankets for CentraCare’s 10 dialysis sites. But no one would expect Sindelir’s 89-year-old mother, Catherine, to still love making the colorful blankets.
Hollis had no idea who gave him his brown blanket. The Dallas man has received medical attention in St. Cloud after getting sick on a visit.
“I just knew they kept me warm,” said Hollis, as he received dialysis at the inpatient center at St. Cloud Hospital last week.
Largent had never met someone who had received one of her blankets, but when she met Hollis, she rushed to his side and gave him a hug, as he smiled and expressed his gratitude.
Strangers’ kindness
When Sindelir decided to offer the blankets to dialysis patients, her mom started crocheting them.
“She just loves it,” Sindelir said. “She’s a good person; she’s my mom.”
Largent started helping more than a year ago after looking for a way to volunteer her talents and reduce her stress. So far, she has made between 100 and 125 blankets.
The women’s hard work never leaves any patient without a blanket. They keep reserves just in case of a rush.
“They love their afghans,” Sindelir said. “I often get thank-you notes from them.”
Back in the inpatient unit, Hollis snuggled up with a deep green blanket Largent had just given him.
Largent told him he gave her inspiration to work even faster.
He helped her soul, she said.
He promised that he’ll take the blankets with him when he returns home to Texas. He won’t forget the kindness, he said.
She smiled.
“Every stitch has my autograph,” Largent said.
http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080905/LIFE/109050029
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