A health-care worker has spent two years fabricating a quilt from scraps of pandemic scrub hats, with each square representing a colleague at Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the hospital suffered from a shortage of scrub hats. Carole-Anne Arndt, 64, who started sewing 10 years ago, took it upon herself to buy fabric and sew about 50 hats for all the nurses and support staff at the hospital. But instead of generic pieces of clothing, she took the time to choose fabrics to reflect her co-workers’ traits and hobbies, making each of them unique.
Then, she salvaged the left-over scraps to create a queen-sized quilt.
“It kept getting larger and larger. Some days, I thought this project would never end,” said Arndt, a unit clerk in the emergency department.
The quilt, embroidered with hearts and ECG waves, is made up of squares that represent each one of the co-workers she made a hat for and a reminder of their collective struggle through the pandemic.
“We are a very close-knit unit but we are always short-staffed and most of us work a lot of overtime. I took on this project as a way to keep me sane,” said Arndt, who was introduced to quilting three years ago. “I have always admired quilts and found the time to make my own.”
Although this is one of her first attempts at quilting, she is well-known around the hospital for turning up in colourful, one-of-a-kind custom medical scrubs (sanitary clothing) and matching hats, with about 15 outfits in her closet.
“This time around I wanted to do something positive to honour my friends and co-workers,” said Arndt, who has worked at the hospital since 2013.
She is unsure on her plans for the quilt and is considering holding a raffle or auctioning it so the money can buy equipment to make life easier for her co-workers.
“I would use the money to buy a $150 paper laminator, a $30 to $40 label maker and a couple of chairs for the unit,” she said. “Right now, the night shift staff borrows the needed equipment from the operating room when they are not there.”
The laminator would be put to good use because almost every piece of paper that remains in the unit must be laminated as all surfaces are wiped down every day.
Although Arndt’s co-workers knew of her sewing skills, they didn’t know of the existence of the queen-sized quilt until it was completed — but they weren’t surprised that she would give it away.
“That’s just like Carole,” said Helen McColl, who occasionally works alongside Arndt in the emergency room.
”She’s always working on something and she is always generous with her time. She is always pitching in to help.
“She leads a crazy life at home but, here she is again, spending two years creating something — with the end goal of bettering the lives of her work family. Who does that?”
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