February 11, 2004
Project Caring Heart Benefits Breast Cancer Patients
PAMF Employees Take Their Concern for Patients One Step Further
When the Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s (PAMF) breast cancer educator Rosemary Maresca, R.N., asked a group of co-workers to imagine that they had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, they took the words to heart. Their answer was Project Caring Heart, an employee-inspired effort to provide hand-made scarves to breast cancer patients, which kicked off Jan. 1.
News of the program is already spreading within and outside of the organization. More than 23 employees from 11 departments at the Palo Alto Clinic and PAMF’s Fremont Center – and friends and family – are now making scarves. The group has already presented more than 35 scarves to breast cancer patients.
Employees Carmen Briggs and Cora Waller came up with the idea for making the fashion accessories. Like many people, both Briggs and Waller have had close personal experiences with breast cancer. Briggs’ mother is a breast cancer survivor and her grandmother died of breast cancer. A close personal friend of Waller’s also died of breast cancer.
"Something is pulling us to make this happen for our breast cancer patients," said Briggs.
"We think about the patients on a very personal level," said Waller. "When they come to us, they have all of our support."
"I may not personally be going through what they are going through, but I feel like I want to make a difference," she added.
"We were trying to think, ‘OK, so how are we going to make our staff feel very much a part of something’ – well, they have done it," Maresca said.
Jane MacGregor-Neff, clinical manager of surgical services, agreed.
"This is about people caring for people," MacGregor-Neff said. “We are supposed to be helping patients and this is more about the patients than anything else."
Waller said that employees come up to her who do not know how to knit or crochet but they want to learn so they can donate something. In addition to creating scarves at home, many staff members are also using their lunch and break times to knit or crochet for the project.
One patient had learned of the program and brought in three large bags of yarn, while Maresca has earmarked funds from her department budget to purchase yarn.
A man whose mother is going through chemotherapy, but is not a PAMF patient, sent in some scarves she had knitted and a box of yarn.
For more information about Project Caring Heart or to get involved, contact Briggs at 650-321-4121. Ext 5018.
The Palo Alto Medical Foundation for Health Care, Research and Education is a not-for-profit health care organization that is a pioneer in both multispecialty group practice of medicine and outpatient medicine. The foundation has three health care divisions: the Palo Alto Division, the Camino Division and the Santa Cruz Division. The Palo Alto Division, staffed by 290 physicians of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, has provided a full range of care for Peninsula residents since it was founded in 1930. It operates clinics in Fremont, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Portola Valley and Redwood Shores. PAMF is part of the Sutter Health family of not-for-profit hospitals and physician organizations that share resources and expertise to advance health care quality. Serving more than 100 communities in Northern California, Sutter Health is a regional leader in cardiac care as well as care of women and children, and is a pioneer in advanced patient safety technology. For more information, visit www.pamf.org.