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In This Issue:
Hallie Greenberg, left, and Meghan Foley of Patient Access Services stitch squares for Warm Up America.
While waiting in the Bretholtz Center for a family member, Adrienne Korman picked up a ball of carnation pink yarn and knitting needles and got to work, her hands swiftly and easily looping the yarn on the needles.
The 7- by 9-inch square she stitched will be added to other like-sized squares by Warm Up America, a nonprofit program that pieces together squares from knitters all over the country to create afghans, hats and other items for thousands of people in need.
“I’d rather knit for someone else than work on my own sweater,” said Korman, a Jamaica Plain resident, who had coincidentally forgotten her knitting needles on the day she discovered the program in the center. “It’s relaxing since there’s no pattern you have to think about. It’s a wonderful idea.”
The Bretholtz Center for Patients and Families has several baskets filled with yarn, knitting needles and crocheting hooks for anyone who would like to knit for a good cause while waiting.
Avid knitter Hallie Greenberg, MS-PREP, BSN, BC, nurse educator in the Center for Nursing Excellence, came up with the idea to offer the program at BWH during a recent knitting convention in Hartford, and she worked with director Cheryl Avitabile, MSN, RN, of the Center for Nursing Excellence, executive director Leo Buckley of Patient Care Services and director Chris Collins of Patient Access Services to bring the program to life in the Bretholtz Center.
“The squares seem like just the right size for people to knit while they are waiting,” Greenberg said. “I never thought it would take off like this.”
Greenberg already has collected about three dozen squares, boxed and ready for shipping to Warm Up America. Helen Thompson, manager of Patient Access Services, is working with Greenberg to expand the program to the Patient and Family Center in the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center.
“We have people who wait in here for up to 12 or 13 hours a day,” said Thompson, who is a knitter herself. “Our staff get to know people and refer anyone interested to the yarn and needles. It’s very soothing.”
One woman knit three squares in just one sitting. “It’s a really great idea, especially when you don’t know how long you will be waiting,” said Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, a life-long crocheting veteran who picked up a set of crocheting hooks and began a square last week.
Greenberg donates the yarn from her own collection. “I have a lot of yarn at home and, when I don’t use a whole ball, there is often a skein left over that can accommodate two or three squares,” she said. “We’ve gotten some beautiful squares where people have incorporated patterns and different yarns. We welcome knitters of all levels of expertise to participate.”