A team of elves recently has been spotted donating stockings filled with goodies to patients spending their holidays in the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, spreading good cheer throughout the U-M Health System, and making hundreds of adults and children feel more comfortable during cancer treatment.
The volunteers reside in the Department of Internal Medicine’s Division of Hematology/Oncology and are referred to as the “HemOnc Holiday Elves” by co-workers. Led by “chief elf” Susan Blaisdell, administrative assistant, the team formed in 1999 to help a co-worker battle breast cancer. They discovered that patients in the cancer center also could benefit from a little holiday cheer.
“This shows patients that they’re in a place that cares about them, not just physically but emotionally as well,” Blaisdell says. “We care about the whole person.”
The elves begin looking for donations and volunteers as early as August to collect money and quality items to stuff stockings made by volunteers. In 1999, 75 stockings were donated. This year the crew has set a goal of 400.
“You can help us a little or you can help us a lot, with any ability level,” Blaisdell says. “It’s the final result that counts.”
Stockings are stuffed with gifts to help patients feel more comfortable while undergoing treatment during the holidays, Blaisdell says. Children receive items such as art supplies, Beanie Babies, handmade hats and snowman dolls. Journals are given to adults to provide them a way to record their experience, along with items such as U-M mugs, photo albums and back-scratchers—a favorite among the patients, Blaisdell says.
Stockings and gift certificates also are given to patient caregivers whose holidays are affected by the hospitalization of loved ones. Blaisdell says that people e-mail and call her division many times throughout the year to express their gratitude to the HemOnc Holiday Elves, letting Blaisdell and her team know that each stocking they donate makes one more patient comfortable during cancer treatment.
“When you say the word cancer, almost everyone knows someone affected,” Blaisdell says. “People appreciate this, [and] we enjoy knowing that this is meaningful.”
Visit http://www. med.umich.edu/stockings/index.htm to find out more about the stocking project or to make a donation to sponsor a stocking. Donations of gifts are accepted through Dec. 10, and money is accepted any time.
“U-M is a very special organization,” a stocking recipient said in one of the many “Word of Thanks” entries on the Web site. “In addition to receiving the very best medical treatment…I feel as if I am receiving the very best human’ treatment, too.”
