Saturday, October 28, 2006
Her 13-year-old son gave her the idea for adaptive clothing.
BEAVERCREEK, Ohio (AP) -- President Bush put a smile on the face of Ginger Dosedel when he told the co-founder of a group that adapts clothing for wounded troops that he hadn't noticed anything unusual about the clothing when he visited soldiers wearing it.
Dosedel said that's one of the goals of Sew Much Comfort -- to minimize the visual impact of the soldiers' injuries with clothing that is also comfortable and easy to put on and take off.
Dosedel, of this Dayton suburb, was among representatives of 15 grass-roots organization who met Bush at the White House last week and were thanked for their efforts to support the troops.
Dosedel co-founded Sew Much Comfort, a national volunteer group, in January 2005.
While talking with Bush, Dosedel said her thoughts turned to the seamstresses who have poured their hearts, talent and love into the clothing for the soldiers.
Every day, packages arrive at her doorstep from seamstresses across the country who have turned donated garments into adaptive clothing -- which can accommodate braces, casts, prosthetics and other medical devices worn by wounded soldiers.
This year alone, more than 10,000 adaptive clothing items have been donated to more than 40 medical centers and VA hospitals, as well as combat surgical hospitals in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.
How this began
The idea for the effort came from Dosedel's 13-year-old son, Michael.
In December 2004, Michael, a cancer survivor, had been undergoing physical therapy with wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington.
He knew what it was like to wear a bulky device that immobilized his leg and how hard it was to get dressed when he had it on. The boy told his mother he thought the wounded soldiers could benefit from adaptive clothing with fabric fasteners like the pants she had made him.
When she delivered the first batch of clothes to the men and women being treated at Walter Reed, they were so thankful, it persuaded her to continue.
One man turned to his wife and said, "We can go out to dinner," recalled Dosedel.