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GOOD NEWS
Rhea Nursing Home
patients get special gifts from local seamstress
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This past holiday season, caring souls across
Tennessee generously donated their time and gifts to nursing
home patients, but it's probably safe to say that no one donated
more time and creativity than Margie Cambas of Dayton.
Starting in April 2000, Cambas, 72, sat down and sewed not two
dozen, not four-dozen, but 89 lap quilts for patients at Rhea
Nursing Home.
"I make quilts all the time. It wasn't hard, but
it was a little time consuming," Cambas said. "I had a lot of
patients tell me they appreciated it, but they would appreciate
it if you just said 'hello' to them." |
From left, Rhea Nursing Home activity coordinator
Bobbi Tinker and patient Olive True hold up one of 89 quilts
that Margie Cambas of Dayton hand-made as Christmas gifts for
the facility's patients.
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Members of the youth group, at Christian Bible
Fellowship in Evensville, where Cambas is a member, wrapped the quilts
and a group from the church helped her deliver them before Christmas.
When she saw the quilts, Bobbi Tinker, the Rhea Nursing Home activity
coordinator, couldn't believe how much creative variation Cambas had
put into them.
"I was surprised because they're beautiful; they're not just thrown
together," Tinker said. "They're all different. She really did a good
job."
Tinker said the patients are so attached to the quilts that many of
them have asked that their names be placed on them, and patients are
always anxious to show off their quilts to visitors and staff members.
Every spring, Cambas likes to start a new project. Last year, she
embroidered pot holders and place mats for members of her church, and
she often makes quilts to sell to supplement her income. This project,
however, was her biggest undertaking of all time, and she actually got
the idea from watching television. She saw a report on two ladies in
East Ridge who had made quilts for the veteran's hospital, and she
called Rhea Nursing Home administrator Kate Swafford to ask about the
lap quilts.
"Most of the material I had donated by people I know around the
community that sew. I couldn't have afforded (it) otherwise," Cambas
said. "I really enjoyed it."
Although most of the cloth for the quilts was donated to Cambas, she
purchased the rest of the material, like the polyester backing and
batting, herself.
“Good News”
is a feature designed to spotlight some of the many
positive aspects of long-term care in Tennessee. Know of a “good
news”
item?
Contact THCA’s Communications Department at info@thca.org.
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