La Grange
– Sewing has been a big part of Dawn Osborn’s life. And for the past six
months, so has Adventist
La Grange Memorial
Hospital. The La Grange
Highlands resident, a cardiac rehabilitation patient at the hospital, combined
those seemingly unrelated matters by helping craft a huge quilt that will be
displayed in the hospital’s main corridor for the Thanksgiving season.
Each hospital department was invited to submit a
fabric square to be sewn into a single quilt depicting the hospital’s various
services. The project was organized by the hospital’s spiritual life committee,
a group of employees who advise the pastoral care department on matters related
to the spiritual nature of patients and employees.
“We created this quilt to be a
visible representation to the community of the various services offered and layers
of patient care provided,” said committee member Frieda Bertello, executive
assistant to the hospital’s chief executive and chief financial officers.
A professional embroidery artist with a home-based
business, Osborn used a computer software program to design the squares. She created
squares for five departments: physical therapy, occupational therapy, cardiac
rehabilitation, pulmonary services and administration. She designed her first
square for the physical therapy department after being asked to do so by her
friend Laura Kelley, the hospital’s manager of inpatient rehabilitation.
“After I did the first square for
physical therapy, word spread and others began asking me if I could create
their squares,” said Osborn, who had open heart surgery at Adventist La Grange
Memorial Hospital
in July and a defibrillator implantation at Adventist Hinsdale
Hospital in September.
“But it was no trouble because I enjoy doing it and because I haven’t been able
to return to work since my surgery, I’ve got extra time on my hands.”
The 64 squares were sewn together
into a quilt by Gail Kuzelka, a specialty care technician who has worked at the
hospital since 2001. The quilt, which measures 6 feet 8 inches by 8 feet, will
be hung Nov. 25. Kuzelka, who lives in Downers Grove, has been quilting for about three years
and this is her biggest project. It became a family project; her mom, Dorothy
Kuzelka, laid out the squares to create a pattern and her dad, Howard Kuzelka,
stretched the quilt so it could be framed.
“Stitching all these squares
together reminded me that although every department is different, they all are
interconnected,” Kuzelka said. “Each square is an integral part of Adventist La Grange Memorial
Hospital.”