Written By:
Kristen Leis, SMH Marketing Assistant

(L-R) Front: Eleanor Bartholomew, Teri Laya, Karen Scott Back: Lauretta Scobee, Gayle Johnson, Carrie Morrell, Pat Sellar

Quilts bring comfort to cancer patients

(Sheridan, Wyo.) Every Wednesday at 6 p.m., a group of women meets at the Ranchester town hall. Their common thread is quilting and they spend three hours together making hand-sewn covers. They laugh, share stories, and help each other. And, with each stitch, they also brighten lives.

For the past four years, the Tongue River Quilt Club has taken on the task of making "Comfort Quilts," quilts for patients who complete treatment for cancer at Sheridan Memorial Hospital's Welch Cancer Center. The women stitch, sew and patch together quilts of all colors, patterns and fabrics to be given away as a "parting gift" to patients.

"If we can brighten their lives at all – it's just wonderful," said Karen Scott, a member of the Club.

The idea for Comfort Quilts came from the Club's desire to do community service and use the money they make from their annual quilt show and raffle. The women first decided to try out giving the quilts to different organizations, including the Search and Rescue and medical facilities in Billings.

They then decided to keep the project local and dropped some off at the Welch Cancer Center where radiation oncologist Dr. John Stamato was surprised and touched.

"It was a nice gesture and a quilt is a nice thing to do. It represented the family atmosphere that we have here," he said.

Dr. Stamato decided that the quilts needed to be available to every patient that completed treatment at the Center and took it upon himself to make it possible.

He got in touch with Janet Ludwig, another Sheridan Memorial Hospital employee, who also owns a quilting store in Story. He asked that materials for the quilts be provided through her store and he would pay for all of the materials out of his pocket.

"Janet has been nice enough to provide materials for the project at her cost," Stamato said.

With the backing for materials and his financial support, Dr. Stamato then asked the women if they would help meet his goal to provide every patient with a quilt. Since then, the women have been keeping up with the demand, making more than 150 quilts last year.

"We have a unique atmosphere here, like family, and we love our patients," Stamato said. "Giving a
quilt is different from giving other gifts. It represents something lasting and caring. It shows that we're in this together."

"Our gratitude is very high to these women," he said.

Scott says that the experience of making quilts for the patients at the Center is "wonderful."

"The last time I took quilts in, I received so much excitement from people," she said. "That is just payback."

Another member, Teri Laya, who has more than 15 years of experience in quilting, says she enjoys the opportunity to give the quilts away to people who really appreciate them.

"Whatever I have, I want to share with someone else," she said, noting that she doesn't own a single quilt that she has made.

She said quilts are appropriate parting gifts for the patients because "they are basically a way to wrap yourself up with love and comfort. It lets them know people are thinking about them."

One such patient who received a quilt from the Club is Shirly Wimmer. Wimmer, a Sheridan resident and First Interstate Bank employee of 30 years, was diagnosed with an estrogen-driven cyst last March and ended her radiation treatments in May. She said she was very surprised when she was presented with her quilt.

"It made me feel like part of a family," she said.

"When I look at it, I think about all of the people that have been lost. You feel good knowing that you've made it to that point and it's a positive way to remember those who haven't," she said. "It makes you feel like you're meant to fight. You're meant to fight for the rest of them."

Wimmer said that the women who make the quilts are "sent from God."

Another quilt recipient, former Sheridan mayor Jim Wilson, said that his quilt brings back memories of getting through his treatments. Wilson, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004, said he was taken aback by the gesture.

"It shows that the Welch Cancer Center is a caring place. It sure helped the healing process," he said. "Receiving the quilt made me feel like somebody else is concerned about me besides myself."

"The women who make the quilts are very compassionate," he said. "They made me feel like I wasn't the only one in the boat."

Delivering the quilts to each patient is a goal to continue meeting in upcoming years, Laya said.

"It's a big project," Laya said about making the quilts for the Welch Cancer Center. "But, in the end, we're just a bunch of women who like to get together and sew and help people."

To make a donation or to give fabric scraps to the Tongue River Quilt Club, call Karen Scott at (307) 655-9393.