CHIA Comes Full Circle

From left: Sonya Mohammad (trainee), Linda Pilkerton (OT), Joyce Dean (trainee), Gary Walker (trainee), Heather Hood (instructor) and Raven Ringo (trainee).

At noon on Friday, November 18th, our four Woodlawn Sewing Trainees had the honor of donating the fruits of their labor to the Occupational Therapists (OTs) of UAB Highands' Acute Care for Elders unit. After twenty consecutive weeks of training sessions (and a total of 80 hours), our trainees completed ten soft-goods therapy tools for OTs to distribute to patients with dementia. The tools will be outfitted with fidget gizmos that replicate activities of daily living (ADLs) and hopefully these tools will help patients strengthen and reinforce necessary functions for independence. One of our trainees said this was the best job she has ever had. Another trainee had never been behind a sewing machine before and was able to keep up with the class as it sped forward. Another trainee learned fractions (a skill she missed out on in school) and our most adept trainee (initially, she called to be the trainer not a trainee) said she learned all sorts of skills from our fearless leader, Heather Hood. Stay tuned for more stories and photos from this fascinating 20-week experiment. Bib & Tucker Sew-Op owes a huge debt of gratitude to The Community Health Innovation Awards, which is supported by The University of Alabama at Birmingham and UAB’s Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (National Institutes of Health Grant UL1TR001417).

Woodlawn Sewing Trainees Gary Walker and Joyce Dean show off their work to Occupational Therapist, Linda Pilkerton.