Acknowledgements
Dear Stitchers,
Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) Senior Administration, has advised us that they are now able to meet the supply needs of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE). They have asked the Stony Brook Stitchers to pause production of the surgical masks that we have been making. If there should there be a surge in COVID 19 cases in the fall and or winter season, the Hospital has asked if the Stony Brook Stitchers would resume production of surgical masks and scrub caps, if needed. We have let the Hospital know that they can reach out to us in the future if they have a need that we can fill.
SBUH is grateful for all the work that you have done to help them through the critical phase of the coronavirus (COVID 19) crisis. They were so impressed by the quality of the workmanship of the surgical masks that were donated to the SBUH.
As a community, our lives are forever changed by this virus. Many things were experienced and learned during this crisis. On March 22nd, when we saw a Stony Brook University Hospital Nurse on national television crying for masks, the entire community reacted. We learned we could become one. We all pulled together as a community with a common purpose. We all wanted to help our Hospital and we did so in the only way we could, through our craft.
The response to the March 22nd Call to Action email requesting help to make surgical masks was overwhelming and humbling. The Hospital and Stitchers received hundreds of emails and calls from the community asking how they could help.
Thank you to all, the new and current members, who reached out to the Stony Brook Stitchers to donate your surgical masks. Thank you for dropping everything, to join a coordinated effort, to supply the SBUH with surgical masks. Thank you to the volunteers that we met in Zoom meetings. Thank you to those we met in various parking lots and homes to drop off and pick up supplies. We found so many creative ways, on the fly, to get the job done. Strangers working together for a common purpose. Many times I heard volunteers say making the masks gave them something positive to do instead of staying at home being afraid of the unknown. It was the most beautiful thing to be a part of.
The Stitchers Leadership Team thanks you for your willingness to help us bring support and comfort to the Hospital staff. A Message to all new volunteers: We sincerely hope you will continue to be a part of the Stony Brook Stitchers Family. Stitchers volunteer their time, energy and creativity to lovingly make items for those in physical, emotional or spiritual need. You have a home for your skills with us.
We need help making christening outfits, comfort pillows, children surgical caps, demise wraps, and memory pouches. You will find the patterns for these items on our website https://you.stonybrook.edu/stonybrookstitchers/ or stonybrookstitchers.com Help us service our community hospital.
The words “thank you from the bottom of our heart” has new meaning for us. It’s all so deep. We thank SBUH for letting us play a small part in bringing comfort to the staff. We thank the volunteers who came together for a common purpose, “to help those in need”. It was an honor and a pleasure working with all of you and hope we can continue working together in the future.
Sincerely,
Jan, Melissa, Maryann & Margaret
May 26, 2020
Please know that all donated masks will be delivered to the Hospital.
Dear members of the Stony Brook family:
On this day last year, Stony Brook University Hospital activated its Hospital Incident Command Center, which is the nation’s universal response system for hospitals and first responders during emergencies, as COVID cases surged across New York State. The Stony Brook Medicine team responded to the crisis, not knowing how long it might last or what might be required.
The first week of March 2020 was when our university began seriously adapting and changing its operational policies. It began by limiting international travel. Then SUNY called home those students who were studying abroad in countries where the case counts were mounting. Stony Brook housed all SUNY students returning from Italy, Japan, and South Korea for precautionary quarantine at Stony Brook Southampton Campus.
A university with an academic medical center plays a critical role in addressing a global public health crisis, even beyond the care provided to patients and the community. Stony Brook scholars turned their brainpower on all manner of COVID research questions, including the shape of the novel coronavirus’ spike protein and its role in infection, effective treatments of COVID, clinical trials for vaccinations, and a groundbreaking longitudinal study to follow survivors and the long-term effects of the virus. In all, Stony Brook faculty have initiated more than 200 COVID-related research studies.
So many in our community turned out to provide aid. Donors offered to locate PPE for hospital workers; others provided emergency student aid for those who needed Wi-Fi, laptops, food, and alternative housing arrangements. The Office of Government and Community Relations worked with University Conferences and Special Events and University Police Department’s emergency management team to establish the Wang Center as the central hub for donations, including masks crafted by the Stony Brook Stitchers and comfort items and meals supplied by local businesses for our healthcare workers. Volunteers in the Division of Information Technology’s iCREATE lab started making face shields to be sent across Nicolls Road to those caring for patients, while Department of Chemistry volunteers produced hand sanitizer.
For all of the heroic work that emerged in March 2020 and continues today, it is necessary and important to acknowledge the terrible toll that the disease has taken on our community. More than a half a million Americans, nearly 50,000 New Yorkers and more than 3,000 in Suffolk County lost their lives, and although we are diligent in our work to recover from the pandemic, we mourn these profound losses with our community.
Now we are leading the way in the vaccine response. We have been recognized among the highest-performing vaccine distribution sites in New York State, with the hospital routinely administering 100 percent of its vaccine allocations to staff, and we run the New York State vaccine site on the university campus where it recently celebrated giving its 25,000th vaccine. We are also assisting the state in setting up “pop-up” vaccination sites across Long Island to reach the elderly and minority populations in medically underserved areas. This mission will continue into the spring and summer.
President
A Thank You Message from Carol Gomes, MS, FACHE, CPHQ Chief Executive Officer Stony Brook University Hospital
Dear Stony Brook Stitchers:
“True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure – the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character’s essential nature.” ―Robert McKee
On behalf of our doctors, nurses, and staff, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the members of the Stony Brook Stitchers, who have a long history of volunteering their time, energy, and creativity to make items for those in physical, emotional or spiritual need.
During this global pandemic, our direct patient caregivers have been on the front lines, caring for hundreds of coronavirus patients on a daily basis. In these unprecedented times, a community effort is needed to meet the immediate needs of our frontline healthcare staff as they care for these patients. Thank you all for selflessly answering the call for help by making and donating face masks, as well as a number of essential safety items to protect our frontline workers who continue to provide much-needed services during this pandemic.
With your help, we were able to conserve and preserve our supplies of surgical masks and PPE for our frontline healthcare workers, who needed it most during the critical phase of the pandemic. Your donations enabled SBUH to adequately protect patients, physicians, nurses and other clinical staff, and help reduce the spread of infection throughout the community.
We all feel the pressure during this health crisis in different ways, but the important part is that the crisis does not consume or define us. What defines us is our actions, and your actions have placed you, along with the front line staff, as true heroes in the fight against COVID-19. Thank you for working together towards a common purpose; your response to our call for help was truly humbling and awe inspiring. I have never been more proud to be part of a community that so readily and generously supports each other, especially during uncertain and difficult times as these.
Your generosity truly helped to ensure our ability to provide uninterrupted, high-quality health services. Thank you again for your incredible support. Stay healthy and stay safe.
Sincerely,
Carol Gomes, MS, FACHE, CPHQ
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Operating Officer
Stony Brook Medicine
November 2018 Thank You Note from Stony Brook Medicine:
“Dear Stony Brook Stitchers,
We received some of your beautiful hand stitched blankets for our patients on the Leukemia, Lymphoma, Transplant Unit. Our Unit treats patients with blood cancers and they are often hospitalized for long periods of time. As a result, their hospital rooms become their second home and your blankets have provided them with a true sense of comfort at a time they need it most. The patients have said how nice and heartwarming it is to have something so intricate and beautiful made for them. Thank you so much for all of the smiles and joy you have brought out patients. ” 145/BMT
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Dear Sister Lynn and the Auxiliury Volunteers,
Again, Many thanks.
Fondly, Irene Hart