Members of the Plato Center Unit for Home and Community Education met at Plato Township Center on Friday morning to make cough pillows for abdominal surgery patients who have trouble stomaching the pain without them.
“It hurts when you cough after an abdominal surgery,” said Elgin resident Jackie Anderson, the unit’s community outreach chairperson for the past 12 years. “We make cough pillows for patients at Presence St. Joseph Hospital and Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin.”
Anderson said that the Plato Center Unit for Home and Community Education makes the flat pillows that are later stuffed and sewn shut by hospital auxiliary members before they are distributed to patients.
Last year, the unit made 167 pillows. Their goal on Friday was to make 150 pillows. The pillows are made out of a variety of colorful patterned materials.
“My brother-in-law had a cough pillow given to him when he was in the hospital,” Anderson said. “He wore it out and asked me for another one.”
The Kane County Association for Home and Community Education is a volunteer, non-profit adult organization that has been involved with Kane County families and communities since 1918.
The group says their mission is “to enhance the lives of individuals and families through quality educational programs and experiences encouraging responsible leadership and service to the community.”
The Plato Center unit of Kane County Home and Community Education currently has 31 members and would be glad to welcome new members.
Plato Center unit members who brought their irons, ironing boards and sewing machines to make cough pillows on Friday were: Anderson; Donna Zierer and Carol Skelton, Plato Center; Marilyn Gruewe, Maple Park; Arlene Reiser, Hampshire; Nancy Haire, Verlene Schroeder, Joan Ziethen, and Mary Oine, all of Elgin, and Barbara Lee, St. Charles.
Susan Finley with the Presence St. Joseph Hospital Auxiliary attended the cough pillow workshop on Friday and brought pizza for the unit’s lunch.
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Anderson said that the Kennedy Unit of Home and Community Education in Aurora also makes cough pillow and bags that are used with walkers.
Haire said that Elgin historian Jerry Turnquist will speak about the former Elgin Watch Factory and its contributions to surrounding communities at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 13, at Millcreek Golf Club in Geneva. The public is welcome to attend. This meeting will be held for all eight HCE Units in Kane County.
For more information, contact Elaine Bond, president of Kane County Home and Community Education, at (630) 584-6019.
Denise Moran is a freelance reporter