During the past six months, Baptist Health Sciences University students have been making quilts for patients at the Baptist Trinity Hospice House and the Baptist Operation Outreach mobile health care clinic.
Quilting has become an integral part of the College’s history. On the wall of its main building hangs a large quilt with the hands of the 33 students who comprised the school’s first graduating class in 1999.
In January, four students ‒ Tonia Wright, Caitlin Andrews, Jerica Falls, and Sabrina Edwards ‒ along with Director of Campus Ministries Karen Smith and Director of Alumni Relations and Marketing Bamby Counce, delivered a quilt and visited with Dr. Jimmie Price, a hospice patient and former educator.
“It couldn’t have been a more perfect visit” said Counce. “She was sitting up, dressed and ready to talk.”
Edwards described the experience as very welcoming and full of joy. She wished more students could have experienced the uplifting time spent with Price and witnessed how appreciative she was for the quilt.
“It was such a humbling experience,” said Andrews. “I could tell she was in awe that we had thought of her.”
Price talked a lot about her mentor, Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross, throughout the visit. Ross was a psychiatrist and author of many books. She also taught for more than 30 years and had encouraged her students to read each and every one of her books, said Counce.
Counce, Smith, and the students had hoped to encourage Price with their gift, but they soon realized the tables had been turned. Price encouraged them with her spirit, knowledge, wisdom and fortitude.
“She was very sweet” said Andrews. “I am happy I could be a part of the experience.”
The students will give the two remaining quilts to other patients. A homeless Baptist Operation Outreach mobile van patient will receive one, and students will take the other with them on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic in April.