GAIL WHITE Ladies receive honor, thanks for keeping babies warm at hospital

The private dining room at St. Elizabeth Health Center was crowded with ladies of the St. Elizabeth Auxiliary. For more than 70 years, members of the auxiliary have volunteered to support various departments at the hospital.
The main focus of the auxiliary is to provide funds for the HM Guest House. The facility is a renovated home near the hospital where family members of hospital patients can stay free.
"Some stay for several days," says Patty Rush, St. Elizabeth spokeswoman. "Some just come to take a shower and freshen up."
The ladies in the auxiliary perform fund-raisers throughout the year and use the money to upgrade the house.
"They have provided all the bedding," Rush says in explaining some of the work the ladies have done for the 16-bed facility. "They remodeled the kitchen and dining room. They have bought new furniture and carpeting for the rooms."
While the work of the auxiliary focuses on the house, a small committee within the auxiliary supports the hospital in a different way.
Receiving honor
The auxiliary was honoring several of its members this day for their work throughout the past 12 years, knitting and crocheting blankets for babies in the neonatal unit. At the luncheon, this hard-working group of women were presenting their 1,000th blanket to the hospital.
I had the pleasure of sitting with these ladies during lunch. Never have I witnessed such a beautiful mixture of spunk and humility.
Margaret "Peg" Jones, 82, taught many in the group how to crochet. "I've been crocheting for 45 years," she explains with a smile. She learned to knit six years ago.
Helen Mitchell didn't know how to knit or crochet until she joined the Neonatal Blanket Committee 12 years ago. At 86, her fingers are still going strong.
Gertrude "Gert" Lowery has been knitting and crocheting for most of her 87 years: "Since I was a child," she says in a shy, sweet voice.
Kathryn O'Hara is the young one of the group at 80. Her grandmother taught her to crochet.
Ronnie Pernotto knew how to sew but had never crocheted until she joined the group. She was 76 years old then. Soon to turn 88, Ronnie crochets with speed.
Josephine "Jo" Hartman turned 89 this year. She has knitted most of her life. "I wore a knitted dress on my honeymoon," she says proudly.
For the babies
Every Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Peg, Helen, Gert, Kathryn, Ronnie and Jo meet at the Guest House to knit and crochet 36-inch-by-36-inch blankets for the tiny babies in the neonatal unit.
Sitting around the lunch table with these ladies, I listened to their surprise at the fuss being made over their contribution.
Each wearing a corsage to honor her, they laughed and talked through the meal. I was surprised to learn that none of these ladies had ever seen one of the babies wrapped in their blankets.
"I think about them when I'm making a blanket," Ronnie says.
Helen thinks about the babies when she's choosing yarn; light pinks, blues, aquas and yellows.
"No thread with angora or fuzz," she says.
Many thanks
As the ladies were called forward to present their 1,000th creation to the hospital, Mary Ellen Michael, nurse manager for the Neonatal Unit, addressed the honorees.
"I remember when we had no blankets for our babies," she began. "When they move from the isolet to the crib, they lose heat easily. When their body temperature drops, it can cause many problems," Mary Ellen says in explaining the complications.
"These blankets really keep the babies warm, and they make the families feel good too," Mary Ellen says as she pauses and looks at the six women. "They are beautiful and needed."
I wasn't sure if Mary Ellen was referring to the blankets or the ladies who make them.
gwhite@vindy.com
XFor information about joining the auxiliary, contact Maureen Metzger at (330) 480-3364.