BUFFALO, N.Y. — There's nothing better than being wrapped in a warm hug when you're going through something hard, and that's how it feels for a patient at Erie County Medical Center to receive the gift of a handmade quilt.
"These quilts really represent comfort to the patient but the family as well," ECMC's senior vice president of nursing, Charlene Ludlow, said as the Women of Wayside Presbyterian Church presented a donation of quilts to the hospital.
The colorful blankets, each of them unique, are carefully crafted by the Women of Wayside at their weekly meetings.
"We meet every Wednesday, and we sew for about six hours," Maria Glass said. "In total, in the about 25 years, we've donated 1,000 quilts to ECMC and surrounding hospitals and areas that need them."
The quilts given to ECMC's most at risk patients.
"It's another expression of kindness for our patients. These are given to our critical care patients, our palliative care patients, in some of their most vulnerable moments," President and CEO Tom Quatroche said. "The families really appreciate it. The patients' eyes light up when they get these quilts. It's really a lovely expression of love and kindness from our commuity."
Even though each quilt takes hours to comlpete, the Women of Wayside, say they get back much more than they give.
"It's a very close group, and it's wonderful. It's like therapy," Shirley Vandepoll said.
"We all enjoy sewing. We enjoy being together, and it brings us a lot of a lot of not pleasure as much as it just allows us to just do a little bit for someone who really needs it now," Glass said.