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ALUM NEWS
Sarah Honkomp 2006 Graduate
Being in a hospital emergency room means there are often lives at stake.
A registered nurse at St. Cloud Hospital hopes she has found a way to take away a little of the patient's anxiety with a simple item — a fleece blanket.
The new project is called Luv Blankets, and it started with an idea by Terri Hansen, a registered nurse for 17 years in the hospital's emergency trauma center.
"When patients come in alone or when they are younger patients, there was something that we were missing," said Sara Honkomp, a licensed social worker for the ETC who helps Hansen with the project. "It provides that little extra comfort while family members are getting there or if they are waiting on a test (result) or if they are critically ill."
Hansen said the project began in August with deciding how it would be paid for, how the blankets would be made and how to keep the project going once it got started. Crafts Direct has donated fleece and the project is being funded, in part, by the hospital's auxiliary fund.
The fleece is arriving in about yardwide pieces, and it's now being made into blankets by hospital volunteers, although the first 150 blankets were made by ETC workers.
Each blanket is given to the person to keep, and there have been about 150 given away since the project began.
"We have several hundred on hand, and the staff is starting to remember to use them more," Hansen said. "The staff loves the idea, and we wouldn't be able to do this without the support of everybody. Our hope is that we can get support from the community to get more blankets," she said.
Hansen noted that not all ETC patients receive blankets.
"We have 50,000 patients we treat a year," she said. "This is for people whose situation is more critical, and the staff is aware of the patients who need that extra little touch."
The response to the blankets in the early going has been positive.
"It's been so well-received by everyone who has gotten a blanket," said Hansen, who said she does not know of a similar program in another trauma center. "We used to focus on giving stuffed animals to kids. But since we started doing this and (have) given them a choice, they'll take the blanket every time."
Shortcut to: http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006111110014
Congratulations Tara Schloe 2005 Social Work Alum
Tara Schloe and Joe Prom
Schloe is a 2001 graduate of Apollo High School, St. Cloud, and a 2005 graduate of the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, with a degree in social work. She is employed by St. Cloud Children's Home.
Prom is a 1998 graduate of Royalton High School and a 2002 graduate of St. Cloud State University with a degree in accounting. He is employed by Kern, DeWenter, Viere Ltd., St. Cloud.
An Oct. 22 wedding is planned.
Tell us how you met: The couple met at D.B. Searle's.
Congratulations Kayla Debilzen 2005 Social Work Alum
Kayla Debilzen (2005 grad) and her husband Nathan were married in June of 2005. Kayla is now working as the director of social work at an 88 bed nursing home in Robbinsdale called, Crystal Lake Good Samaritan.
2004 Alumni Working Abroad
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Kristen Simmons , Nicola Zotalis, Cary Jelinek and Billie Hughes (in order, left to right)
Billie Hughes worked as a social worker in Children and Families Team in northeast London. The organization's primary focus was on Child Protection and Children Looked After (Children temporarily or permanently in foster care). All 4 alum lived together in a house in london.