EpilepsyBlogger: Community Care Package - Day 9 WEGO National Health Blog Month

Day 9 Nov. 9th WEGO National Health Blog Month
Prompt: Commnity Care Package

My prompt is "Community Care Package. Create the perfect care package for your members or fellow patients." I think I just smiled inside because, after all, care packages are my specialty! Just check out my "Hospital Care Packages" page! I've already lived this blog!

A lot of people have (surprisingly) asked me "Mandy, what made you want to make care packages?" and "Mandy, how did you know what to put in the baskets?" I honestly thought it was just a common sense thing. After all, I make them for the Neurology floor at my local hospitals. These floors are filled with children getting EEG's, brain surgeries, and much more. However, I guess it isn't obvious enough? I might need to work on that when I take my next batch out!

In order to explain why I put the things I put in the baskets and what makes me want to make them, I am going to show you through pictures. I made baskets for little kids (babies, toddlers, and children up to 10 years old), baskets for preteens/teens, and baskets for family members.

Babies

Babies - these were very tricky baskets, because babies are usually "covered" when it comes to being in the hospital. Babies often have everything. It's the parents and guardians who don't. So I sort of "tricked" the baskets and filled it with goodies for the parents and a sweet and simple blanket for the baby. Sometimes even a stuffed animal if I had one. Some of the goodies for the parents that I included were: Drinks, snacks, candies, toiletries, and occasionally gift cards for free burgers and meals at fast food chains (all underneath the blanket).

It doesn't seem like much unless you are a parent who has had to go through this. Then you know what it's like just watching your child lay there sick, waiting for another one of the violent seizures to come. Tired, haven't bathed, and have had no time to eat or drink a thing. Half the time you have no cash in pocket to get food. It's terrible.

I think what touches me most is the smiles on the faces of the folks who get these bags and baskets. I remember my first time delivering. I was nervous to see other families like me, because it really isn't a happy thing to look at. The sad and angry faces are everywhere. I feared that I wouldn't be let in half of the rooms. I know that when I was in the hospital, if someone tried to come in my room I'd probably yell "GET OUT NOW!"

And one day, I delivered all the bags and baskets, and for some reason, I had one fluffy blanket left. It is the blanket on the bottom right side of the above photo. Grey, fluffy, and feels like the softest kitty in the world (minus the smell, allergies, clawing, etc.) Every little child wants one! Unfortunately, it was so small. It is a BABY blanket.

I showed the nurse and she said "I know who to give this to," and took me to one of the "emergency rooms" where a mother sat alone crying. I could hardly look inside - her little girl laid unconscious, in a coma, on the hospital bed. Tubes and wires in every area of her body. The nurse said "Stay out here and I will give her the blanket" and walked back out with another nurse. I could see the mother inside crying, holding the blanket.

The other nurse who walked out had tears all over her face. She just grabbed me and hugged me saying "It's been a long, hard day. I'm ready to go home". I just let her hug me (even though I didn't know her at all!) because I knew that what she said was true. I don't know if I could ever have her job. Probably not.

As we walked down the hallway talking, I tried to dry my EpilepsyBlogger t-shirt off. It was wet on the shoulders with that nurse's tears... Very wet!

"Wait!" said a small voice from a woman.

I turned around. And I saw that mother from the Emergency room, holding the baby blanket. "I want to tell you something."

"Of course," I said. We walked back into her Emergency Room, and I introduced myself. Introducing myself was hard because I already wanted to cry, seeing the broken-hearted mother with tears in her eyes. I let her know that I once stayed in that very hospital several times year, so I was visiting to give back to the place that saved my life many times.

"I want to thank you for giving me this," the woman said, crying in between almost each word. "My daughter is in a coma and the doctors say they don't know if she will live because she is so young. I've been praying all day and all night. Praying for a sign... Just something to let me know that she isn't going to be gone from my life. I think this blanket is that sign. So thank you for giving me hope. I know my daughter will love it when she wakes up."

How is that for my first-ever non-emergency visit to the hospital? Pretty heavy on the heart. But I'll never forget it.

Toddlers & Young Children - The easy baskets! I knew what toddlers wanted. Toddlers and young children get bored easily in the hospital, and with seizures, they need something to take their mind off of the fear and cheer them up. So these baskets are filled with a little more.

Above are the Easter drop-off baskets that were given the afternoon before Easter. Inside are eggs filled with candy, coupons for free ice creams, stuffed animal bunnies, puzzles, Gatorade bottles, Goldfish, blankets, lollipops, pretty postcards, sunglasses, coloring books, crayons and much more! Enough to enjoy and even share with their parents!

Preteens/ Teens/ Parents and Guardians

Preteens/ Teens/ Parents and Guardians - Above are the Easter drop-off baskets for preteens, teens and guardians. Teens and guardians got a really cute re-usable basket they could take home and use for whatever. I also didn't hold back on the junk! Potato chips, sodas (caffeine-free, of course!), boxes of cereal (the good kind), candy-filled eggs, chewing gum, breakfast bars, etc.

The baskets were also filled with things that I personally wish I always have in the hospital when I'm there. This includes deodorant (the good kind), hair soap (the good kind), conditioner (which they don't give at all), lotion (that doesn't smell like baby lotion), tampons (PLEASE!), feminine pads (would it kill any hospital to make them thinner?), shaving cream (this doesn't exist in hospitals), and razors (that don't slice your skin off), etc. Even some little fun things like gift cards, free meal coupons, free RedBox rentals, sleep masks, pretty pill boxes, socks, I.C.E. bracelets, etc.

I was going to put bunnies or more Easter gear, but I thought about it a bit. What would I do if someone gave me all of that? I would say to my mother or father, "Well thanks! Now where's all the stuff that I really need?" My mother would probably say that too! And boy, the smile on the parents faces when they knew they didn't have to take the bus home for money and food was awesome. I got so many hugs it blew my mind!

But I don't do it for myself. I do it because I wish someone had done it for me all those years. That is how I knew what to put in the baskets too! Hope that explains it all for you!