RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS: SEWING UP KINDNESS

To brighten a trying time, all pediatric patients under age 12 at Southeast Missouri Hospital get a handmade puppet with a plastic face and fabric body that fits over small hands.

Many of those puppets and a host of other hand-sewn items for hospital patients are made by Jean Devore, who sews on days she isn't bothered by her rheumatoid arthritis.

"When they find out you can sew, they ask you to sew things to make sure you use that talent," said Devore, with a smile.

Devore said it takes her about an hour to make each puppet and she sews about 20 per month. The puppets are given to young patients in the hospital's pediatric unit, outpatient surgery unit and radiology unit, said Charlotte Sargent, volunteer coordinator at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

"The kids love the puppets," said Connie Peiffer, nurse manager of the pediatric and pediatric special care units. "It's something they can play with in the hospital, then take home as a keepsake."

Another keepsake Devore helps make are the red Christmas stockings that December babies are sent home from the hospital in.

"She buys and cuts out the material for the Christmas stockings," Sargent said. "Others help with the sewing, but Jean is in charge."

And Devore is the person to go to if you have an idea for something but no pattern.

Southeast's skilled nursing facility wanted aprons with buttons and zippers that would give agitated patients something to do with their hands, Sargent said. They showed Devore a picture of one from a catalog and it wasn't long before the department had the aprons, courtesy of Devore.

Devore also uses her sewing skills to make toe towels for foot clinic patients, clothes for preemie babies, pillows for breast cancer patients and turbans and Reach for Recovery bags for cancer victims.

That's in addition to working at least one three-hour shift per week at Southeast's gift shop.

"If we need someone to work an extra shift, we know we can call Jean," Sargent said.

All combined, Devore volunteered 445 hours during 1995 and 3,787 hours since 1990 at Southeast.

Devore began volunteering at the hospital in 1988.

"I had surgeries in 1986 and '87, and it really made a change in my lifestyle," Devore said. "I needed to get out among people, and I saw a brochure about hospital volunteers."

She signed up at Southeast and really enjoyed the camaraderie among the volunteers and staff and the feeling of helping others.

"It's a way of giving back something," she said. "If you can make someone's life a little better by giving your time, it's rewarding," Devore said.

And it's something the hospital really appreciates, Sargent said.

"Volunteers have that personal, caring touch that makes this hospital a more homey, friendlier place," Sargent said, noting that Southeast has about 250 active volunteers. "They also provide the little things that, monetarily, the hospital wouldn't be able to afford."

That includes puppets that keep sick children company during their stays in the hospital.

They are something Devore loves making.

"It's good to have something you can do," Devore said. "Not everyone sews, and I really like it. If I can use that skill to help others, that's all the better."