Kits Delivered to Siteman!

With the $165 in donations received this week, I was able to purchase supplies to bring five Interwoven Kits to hand out to patients at Siteman today. Five kits didn't cost $165, but I'll use the rest of the money to purchase more supplies in the next few weeks. The instructional booklet and all materials to create five different crafts were packaged inside each bag.

Three of the five recipients are pictured below: Karen, Doris and Kim.

Karen I.

Doris D.

Kim M. & her son, Brian R.

(They plan to work on the kit together)

I just added a PayPal donation link (see right side of page) to make contributing to the project easier!

Thank you everyone for your interest in donating to this project. With your help, we can continue providing patients with the Interwoven: Hands-on Healing Craft Kits.

I'll update with photos from my visit to Siteman next week.

With Your Help.....

Next Tuesday, March 15, I will bring at minimum 5 craft kits to patients at Siteman Cancer Research Center. If you are interested in donating any of the materials listed below, please contact me through facebook or email me at ral62c@mail.umsl.edu. 

If you donate, your name will be included on the donors page in the instructional booklet and I will send you a .pdf of the instructions (in case you ever need to learn how to knit a scarf or fold an origami box :) I will also be accepting any cash donations to pay for other supplies not listed below, such as carrying cases for the kit, binding charges, elastic cords, etc. Thank you for your help, and please contact me with any questions.

UMSL has already donated the resources to print the instructional booklets. 

Thank you UMSL!

Grant Proposal!

I did it! I finally finished my grant proposal! I sent it off today and it felt oh so good.
Next stop: Kickstarter.com

Grant Proposal

project name

Interwoven: Hands-On Healing Activity Kit

target audience

Female Chemotherapy Patients: Ages 15-60

medium

Print: Instruction Booklet, Packaging: Pre-assembled Kit

context in which the final result will be seen

Printed instruction booklets and branded craft kits will be distributed at no charge to chemotherapy patients

project overview

I decided to design the Interwoven: Hands-On Healing Kit while sitting with my mom in the waiting room at Siteman Cancer Center in 2010. She was receiving chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer (which is now in remission). Art activities were offered in the waiting room at Siteman, but most patients only spent a short period of time in the waiting room before treatment. Upon leaving the waiting room, patients would be ushered back to a chemotherapy “pod,” which is a small room lined with chairs and beds, where they spent up to 8 hours receiving infusions. I spent a few months observing how patients and their visitors passed the time. Most watched television, read, slept or talked with other patients. I decided that I wanted to provide them with calming and distracting activities that were more productive and engaging than watching television or sleeping.

The final packaging and instructional design project will be a craft activity kit for women undergoing chemotherapy treatment or their visitors. Each kit will include materials and illustrated instructions detailing how to complete five different craft projects. The five projects will be color coded and ranked according to their level of difficulty and physical energy required to complete. The use of the kits will also promote camaraderie amongst patients and nurses by encouraging the patients to give the crafts as gifts upon their completion. During my observation, I realized that some patients were desperately searching for a conversation starter and the craft activities gave them a perfect ice breaker. 

Craft Activites:

Origami Paper Gift Box

Bright Yarn Lei

Fuzzy Pom Pom Caterpillar

Band Aid Pillow

Cozy Knitted Scarf

desired outcome

There are two desired outcomes for my design: 1. The kits provide chemotherapy patients with a calming distraction to treatment 2. They encourage fellowship and open communication between patients, creating a sense of community within a chemo “pod.” 

If I receive funding for this project, I will be able to purchase packaging, all craft materials (shown on the attached file) and pay for the printing costs for each instructional booklet. I would like to provide at minimum 30 kits at no charge to patients at Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis, Missouri. I have already partnered with the director of the Arts + Healthcare program at the hospital so, with funding, this project has a 100% chance of being distributed. I have also received a lot of positive feedback when I requested yarn donations on my blog (http://craftastherapy.blogspot.com/) so I hope to spread the money a bit further after receiving donations and increase the numbers of kits I can produce to 50. 

Thank You Amy Sedaris!

I just snagged Amy Sedaris' newest book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, and it is absolutely freakin hilarious! She pokes fun at creating "useful things" out of pipe cleaners and pine cones while giving instructions on how to create a wide range of kitschy crafts. There is even a chapter on "The Healing Power of Crafting," which includes crafts targeted towards people with specific ailments/disorders, although most crafts are blatantly inappropriate for the group they are selected for, such as rusty nail wind chimes for people suffering from bipolar disorder. (they're supposed to be inappropriate, it's dark humor, dudes!)

Examples of crafts: donut squirrel feeders, crab claw roach clips, tin can stilts, "I can't do anything right" box, and a clothespin Jesus. Most crafts are ridiculous, some are offensive, but rest assured that you have seen several of these at your local high school or church craft fairs.

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the cover of the book, which shows Sedaris creating yarn pom poms. (One of the crafts in my kit is a fuzzy yarn pom pom caterpillar) Should I be offended by the way she trivializes crafts while I've spent all semester working on a senior thesis that focuses on craft as a healing tool? NO flippin way!! She's funny and clever and reading her book reminded me not to take this craft thing so seriously. I love love luuuurve this book and recommend it to anyone who has ever painted a pine cone or hot glued macaroni to a plate (and isn't easily offended by tasteless jokes).

Last Chemo!!

Yesterday marked my mom's last chemotherapy treatment! She was at Siteman from 7:30am - 6:30pm and was happy to leave at the end of the day. Lucky me, she was willing to be my test subject for the stuffed band aid project. I printed out my written and illustrated instructions and asked her to tell me when a step was unclear. It was incredibly helpful and I was able to edit and make the instructions easier to understand after getting her feedback.

Diligently sewing

Proudly displaying our stuffed band aids

My proudest moment occurred when two nurses and three patients asked us what we were doing. The craft kit is meant to accomplish two things: 1. Be a calming way to pass time 2. Encourage communication between patients. I felt like a proud parent when one patient's husband, Ron, began a conversation with my mom after asking us what we were sewing. We learned that Ron's wife was receiving treatment through a clinical trial, just like my mom, because her type of cancer wasn't responding to chemotherapy. They were from Houston, Missouri and had to drive 3 hours back home that night. After my mom told them she was lucky she lived in Edwardsville, Illinois and only had a 40 minute drive home, another patient joined the conversation, telling us about his experiences in Edwardsville. Our craft project sparked interactions among at least 5 people that day.

I have come to realize that most patients are looking for an non-verbal invitation for conversation. Working on our band aid project provided that invitation. After a simple ice-breaker, like asking us about a silly stuffed pillow, people would immediately tell their heart-breaking or uplifting stories about their fight against cancer. 

The Conversation Starter

Craft #4: Stuffed Band Aid Pillow....revisited

The fifth project in the craft kit is the stuffed band aid pillow. I tweaked the design from the original (which was reminiscent of a pretzel or canoe, I'm told). The illustrated instructions are completed, but only a few steps are shown below.

Band Aid Pillow!