The comforter quest

This is the preamble. The conclusion of my story is here.

I am a hospice volunteer, one of 85 in Lanark County alone (part of south east LHIN, CHSLC.ca). We survive on partial ministry funding and partial donations. 

I represent all of us who make a difference in the life of someone at end-of-life. We give respite to family members who are burned out or burned up.
We have volunteers who dispatch and deliver Meals on Wheels.
We drive people to appointments when they don't have transportation, or accompany them when they don't have a friend.
We subsidize certain types of care (transportation, footcare) if there are financial issues.
We are friendly visitors in long-term care, retirement homes, or in private homes.
We are people who have some knowledge, spare time and skills. It doesn't cost a lot of money to be a volunteer, but it does cost energy. This we can freely give, and it comes back ten-fold.

"For those to whom much is given, much is required."

I sent out a tweet October 14th, hoping someone could grant my hospice client's wish. My client wanted a Sens comforter to replace the one that was dirty, and pretty crappy looking. Covered in one thing and another, including cat hair, it was time.

I found a fleece blanket in Smiths Falls Cheap-mart October 14th, but it wasn't thick enough. I didn't buy it and now I am sorry. I felt sure we could find a real comforter somewhere.

Palliative clients are often cold and thin.
My poor dad! 

His son found a sensible plaid one comforter to replace the old comforter client refuses to give up until his new mattress pad arrives.. Without transportation to Ottawa parts wide and far, what could he do? He's usually up in the wee hours ensuring that his dad has his pain pills. As a caregiver you often don't have the energy to do much more than basic activities of daily living (ADLs) that a care recipient needs.

 I didn't think that blue plaid was good enough. My client told me he wanted a Sens comforter, red. With good people in this city, willing to go above and beyond, willing to sit in city parks to protest the disparities between rich and poor, some of us are willing to make phone calls and do internet research for those who cannot. It is a small thing that makes a big difference.

I was giving care to my client. Put away the novel he was reading. Found his TV clicker. He asked me to plug in his electric razor. He knew when it had charged, he has no dementia, and then he asked me to unplug it and give it to him. He asked me to turn his light away from his face, I did so. 

He thanked me profusely. Small comforts, the least I could do.

Tuesday I gave him a haircut. He was happy. I shaved his sideburns. Happier still.

A simple thing, like flowers, makes a person feel loved.

Then, he began to apologize for being so bossy and demanding. I wrote him a note (as he is deaf) and said, "I want to pay it forward. There may be a time when I need someone to do this for me! I can't read your mind, and you have to tell me what you need and what you want!"
He smiled, turned over and went to sleep.

You see, everyone else comes in to poke, prod, change him, and I'm simply there for respite for his son, and to keep him company. Some clients want to be left alone, others want to be left to do their own thing, and I am there for the peace of mind of the family members who must work, do errands or take a break.

Now, in my late Mother's case, a perfectionist neatnik, even *she* let housekeeping go when she was ill. The stains on the floor from her incontinence she attributed to the dog. It was her way of coping. You only have the energy to keep on living, not to houseclean, make meals, have visitors. I wiped off my client's coffee table, washed off his family photos in their frames, and the TV stand. Wanda's fur was EVERYWHERE! Again, my client smiled, through his pain and angst, and thanked me profusely. Visitors to those who are ill make some vague offer help, but sometimes you just have to take the bull by the horns.

In the meantime Twitterverse was heating up. I sent a direct tweet to the mayor @JimWatsonOttawa, who RT to all his followers. Still nothing.

Oct. 16th I was discouraged

@ 

every team BUT the Sens

@janine_klaas @StuMillsCBC Seems to be lap blankets but not #comforterquest I may just go or the lap blanket $30 vs. $80 but the warmth...

My son-in-law asked his friends, they thought you could get one by signing up for a MasterCard. That didn't pan out.
On to the next step of #comforterquest...   janine_klaas  tried in Gatineau; she tweeted 'Rats, no luck!' 
On the weekend, Janine offered to contribute to the cost of the one Stu Mills found on eBay. It was $60, not cheap, plus $20 shipping and handling, but with a far off closing timeline for the bid (Oct. 20th) I wondered, as well as the distance it had to travel I felt sure we could find something nearby. I e-mailed the vendor Stu found on e-Bay. I asked if he would be willing to sell it right away. No answer.

Janine offered to use her Fedex account to get it to us. She's offered to help with payment and delivery. I think it was @mirgray who dreamed up the hashtag #comforterquest

mirgray Miranda Gray: 

(Oct 17th) I checked smaller shops at Place D'Orleans for Sens bedding. Amazing that this is so hard to find. @StuMillsCBC #comforterquest #ottawa

In the meantime, he had caregivers in (3 times a day), and the nurse (2x's/day). Then hubby sent me in with a gift for my client's cat, Wanda. A catnip tomato. She was thrilled. She used it as a pillow, placing her paw on it! Pets are often left out of the whole caregiving deal. Everyone concentrates on the client, some caregivers aren't cat people, pets are worried about their owner, life just isn't right. I gave her some TLC.

Nick, of @OpenFileOTT, did a fabulous piece, after interviewing me one night on the phone. I told him our story. He said he'd get onto it.

Stu, undaunted, tried Rideau Sears on the weekend (Oct. 15/16)th, Sears is licenced to carry Sens gear. He tweeted a photo to show me, all but Sens logos. It was comforting, 'scuse the pun, to know that people will go that extra mile for a person they'd never met.

I tried posting on Ottawa Valley freecycle.org (my Green kids told me about them last year. I have passed on a frige, 8 x 6' TV antenna, and some extra clay post!)
Still nothing. 
Several clever people included the #Sens hashtag. I'd looked on-line –and their website was great if you wanted to buy tickets. Not a hockey fan, I had little idea. (Yes, I am likely the only resident of Lanark County, other than hubby, who isn't a hockey fan!)

story ends happily!

Stu tried Cheap-mart Orleans, Sears, Zellers Place Orleans. NADA! Stu being the great mover and shaker and person with good contacts in Ottawa, the suggestions kept coming had an idea on:

 Then Dan Walker  had an idea:

@StuMillsCBC has @sensfoundation been contacted w/ regards to #comforterquest ?

I didn't know there was a Sens Foundation! Stu and I both e-mailed them... they said to phone the store Monday. I phoned their store Monday when they opened up. Voice mail. They didn't return my call.

Stu checked all the city Cheap-marts, they carry the comforter, but none of the stores have the Ottawa Sens in stock. Stu talked to the National buyer at Giant Tiger - they don't carry it, it is a rather high-end item! We tried all the stores in Perth. Nothing. 

Finally:

janine_klaas janine klaas 

Joining #comforterquest in Gatineau this morning! @StuMillsCBC @jennjilks

1 hour ago 

There were lap blankets around, but they really aren't the type of comforter that a hospice client requires. Many are cold, and they need to be warm. Not only that but the furnace in the building went off on Monday night, and son put a heater into the room.

StellarJana tried stores in Kingston. 

StuMillsCBC suggested: 

I wondered about sewing Sens sheets into a duvet cover. Would take some time.

janine_klaas janine klaas 

@jennjilks @stumillscbc sewing easy but my machine is in sad shape & been banished to garage. There MUST be 1 out there! #comforterquest

Finally,  @Monkeyboard contacted the vendor AGAIN, and they agreed to buy/sell before the closing date (20th) of the eBay auction.

StuMillsCBC Stu Mills  tweets...

Well done @Monkeyboard! We have an offer from Spartacat to deliver it. Thanks everybody who joined in #comforterquest, and@jennjilks

Bless their hearts, Janine, Stu, 'Monkeyboard'!
And the story continues... Many offered to contribute to the cost.

I wrote on October 17th:

jennjilks Jennifer Jilks 

Never underestimate the power of a little birdy, tweeting in the night. #comforterquest Many thanks to all my new friends!

Last night, the 19th, worried how long he has, my client's PSW went home and brought in her fleece blanket. Client was quite pleased. Something bright in his room. Ready to let go, he wrote to a caregiver on the 19th:

"Thanks for your care over the last couple of years but there is only so much medical science can do. Just let me go pain free."

In hindsight I should have simply bought the Cheap-mart fleece for $30 the first time I spotted it. Yet, my client read some of the #comforterquest tweets, and how many were looking for it on his behalf, and he was touched. He feels he is a burden and didn't realize how much people were helping.

The comforter is now in Ottawa. We are making arrangement to get it to me to deliver when I visit my client this afternoon. Great excitement!