Belfast Royal Heart Cushions

Healing cushions

Healing cushions

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Belfast Royal Healing cushions

Every Wednesday a group of women join me at Grandma’s Attic for a coffee and a knit.  These cushions are a sample of approx 400 cushions we have already sent to the Belfast Royal Hospital to aid patients who have undergone heart surgery.  The feedback from staff and patients has been amazing and I wanted to share it with you.

Patients who received a cushion on discharge showed a quicker recovery rate, less depression and a more positive outlook for the future.  This may not seem to be much to anyone who has never undergone major surgery but for anyone that has it is a huge hurdle to get over and every little helps.  I don’t know if it is the actual cushion that aids healing or just the fact that someone who doesn’t actually know you, took the time and trouble to make something just for you and  that raises the spirit and aids recovery.  I will leave that to the experts to decide.  The physical cushion is used to protect the wound from the seatbelt in a car for example (the wound can take up to 6 months to heal completely internally) or for holding close to your chest for support when coughing or hopefully, laughing!!

As you can see we have a real mix of styles and colours.  We try to cater for Men, women and children.  Different sizes for different people.  There are about 1000 open heart operations carried out every year and it is our aim to provide every one of those people with a cushions to take home and keep.

No official research has yet been done with regard to these cushions but it is something that specialists are looking at because of this feedback.  If anyone wants to help us or indeed a hospital local to you then I would be happy to offer advice about how to go about this.