Children's Hospital Collects Pillows

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Children's Hospital Collects Pillows

Katy Murray
Managing Editor

   As of Oct. 9, the Children’s Hospital Pillow Drive had collected over 30 pillows for cancer patients. The event, sponsored by the University of Arkansas at Monticello Ambassadors, will continue through Nov. 15. Any individual or organization can donate one or more pillows in the Office of Admissions in Harris Hall.

   The Children’s Hospital provides a small “travel” pillow to all cancer patients, but because of a large number of patients, they have been completely out of pillows. Generally, a pillowcase is pinned with a small note indicating who provided the gift and offered “special thoughts.” Then the patients bring their “special” pillow to each treatment or hospitalization.

   A current patient from Monticello and her mother were the first to contact Director of Admissions Mary Whiting regarding the need for pillows.

   “This young lady is a leukemia patient," Whiting said. "She explained how important her pillow is to her and asked me for help from our campus. I then contacted the Oncology Unit at Children’s Hospital in Little Rock and found out that they had a real need.”

   In fact, each new oncology patient gets a pillow for use in treatments.

   This is the first time UAM has provided pillows. But, according to Whiting, about two years ago the Ambassadors and the UAM Cancer Support Group promoted a hat drive. This gave aid to chemotherapy patients at the Children’s Hospital. It was a huge success for children who had lost hair from chemotherapy treatment.

The first group of pillows collected was sent to the Children’s Hospital on Oct. 9 through the patient who first contacted Whiting. The additional pillows collected will be taken after Nov. 15 and most likely by Whiting herself, who has been asked to visit the Oncology Unit.

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