Many patients are unable to see their loved ones due to COVID-19 hospital visit restrictions. In a bid to provide comfort and support a connection between patients and loved ones, the Misericordia and Grey Nuns community hospitals are participating in Connecting Hearts.
Volunteers sew, knit or crochet sets of identical hearts so that one heart (and sometimes a personalized note) is given to a patient and the other to the family.
Haresh Sureshkumar, a volunteer with the Misericordia for eight years who has sewn over a dozen sets of hearts, says he’s missed interacting with patients since COVID-19 began, and this is a way he can keep supporting them from a distance.
“I think the best thing about the initiative is even though we aren’t there physically, we are there through acts of kindness,” Haresh says. “It lets them know they aren’t alone throughout the pandemic and that we’re there for them.”
Volunteers have made over 200 sets of hearts for the Misericordia and Grey Nuns hospitals as part of the initiative, which originated with the Peter Lougheed Centre.