Research has shown that patients who are less anxious as they go into surgery will experience a smoother recovery period. Brainstorming by the HPMC operating room nurses resulted in a number of ideas to soothe their young patients’ fears. Initially, the focus was on the attire of the OR staff. They received permission from the hospital to trade their traditional surgical garb for garments, including their surgical caps, made of kid-friendly patterned fabric. The youngsters and their families noticed and were curious about the caps. The resulting conversations were positive distractions during the often-stressful perioperative process.

HPMC is part of Lee Memorial Health System and is home to The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida and its Pediatric Oncology Center. Surgical procedures are performed on perhaps 60-70 pediatric patients each week in the HPMC OR.

Because the unique caps worn by the OR staff were such a hit with the children, OR nurses, Saundra Falk, RN; Rebecca Neal, RN, CNOR; and Cheryl Marker, RN decided that the pediatric patients should have caps of their own, caps they would choose, wear and take home when they were dismissed from the hospital.

Beginning in August 2000 a small group of staff brought sewing machines and gathered in a hospital conference room after work one afternoon each week to sew the little caps. The workers were remarkably efficient due to the production line system they used, with areas for cutting the fabric, ironing, sewing and inserting elastic.

Estimating that they would be producing 2,000 caps per year, cost was a big consideration and the hospital provided some of the seed money.

Sandi Falk recalls, “We also went to one of our ENT surgeons and told him of our plan. He reached into his wallet, handed us money and said, ‘Get started.’ We have had wonderful benefactors along the way.”

Newspapers featured the project, which would eventually come to be known as Sew Angelic, a name that has been copyrighted, protecting the group’s exclusive use of it in the United States.

As a result of the publicity, donations of materials came pouring in. A woman who had closed her fabric business donated 500 yards of fabric.

“Not all of the fabric was kid-friendly, so we used that fabric to make scrub tops that we sold,” Falk said. “We’ve sold cookbooks, too, to bring in funds. We’ve been awarded money by the hospital’s board of directors and two auxiliaries have donated financial support. We are mostly self-supporting but are certainly grateful for all financial help.”

The newspaper publicity also resulted in offers to help sew the hats, including a Girl Scout troop and a group of women from a retirement facility. Volunteers who are legally blind help by threading the elastic through the edge of the bouffant cap. The ranks of volunteers have swelled and the hats are farmed out to them to be sewn and returned to the hospital.

“What we have loved is bringing everyone together, getting older generations involved in helping the youngest,” Falk said. “This has been such a positive thing. The children love them and enjoy choosing their personal cap. When the children smile, the parents smile. The children and their families are calmer.”

Falk remembers a five-year-old boy who was having a tonsillectomy. Instead of selecting a cap with motorcycles, cars or sports images, as most little boys do, he chose one with flowers and butterflies.