WABI, WVII interview UMaine nursing students collecting children’s PJs for hospital
WABI (Channel 5) and WVII (Channel 7) interviewed senior nursing students from the University of Maine who have been collecting children’s pajamas and money for the past month to donate to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. The students — Caroline Bush, Brooke Hammond, Lauren Martin and Jordan Richards — came up with the idea while attending their pediatric clinical rotation at the hospital when they learned the hospital sometimes has a limited supply of pajamas for children. So far they’ve raised $2,500, enough to buy about 500 sets of pajamas, WABI reported. “We really enjoyed working with the pediatric patients during our clinical and just seeing some of them not have jammies, not being able to be as comfortable as they are in their home environment, and being such a sick place that we really wanted to improve their outcomes at the hospital,” said Bush. “If you have some pajamas, it just might make you feel better. It might make you feel like you’re not necessarily in that hospital setting.” Some of the pajamas also will be donated to area shelters, WABI reported. To donate, email Bush at caroline.bush@maine.edu or Kelley Strout, assistant professor of nursing, at kelley.strout@maine.edu.