When Nancy McCullough heard about the Daviess County Extension Homemakers' Association project to make pillows for women who have had breast cancer surgery, the Daviess County Middle School teacher knew where she could get a capable work force of 50.
The eighth-graders in her Family and Consumer Science class.
The nine-week course includes a community service project, and this one fit the skill level of her students, McCullough said.
"We'll produce 100 pillows for the cause," McCullough said. "I brought fabric from home and cut it into 8-by-13-inch rectangles. I set up an assembly line in class with different stations."
The students worked on the project for about 40 minutes a day, Monday through Friday last week, or about three hours in all.
"Every day they worked, they became a little better at it," she said. "They took ownership of it. They really cared."
The underarm pillows will be used by the local chapter of the American Cancer Society's Reach to Recovery program.
"The pillows are given to women who have just had breast cancer surgery as a comfort," said Heather Blair, the community representative for the local ACS chapter.
"It helps fill that spot so that they don't hit it with their arm, especially when they're sleeping. Or when they're driving so the seat belt doesn't hit the wound as it's healing."
In breast cancer surgery, tissue is removed from the breast, and often from the underarm, and it becomes a sensitive and delicate area, so soft padding is useful. Healing could take about two months, Blair said.
McCullough's class used fabrics like cotton, flannel, calico and satin, and Poly-fil on the inside.
One group of students pinned together two pieces of fabric and turned the fabric "wrong side" out. A group of "runners" took the product from table to table. Another group wound bobbins so thread was always ready. Another group did the sewing, "turners" turned the fabric to "right side" out, and another group stuffed the Poly-fil to a cushy thickness.
Christy Ramey, the Daviess County Extension Service's agent for family and consumer sciences, said the DCEHA will make an additional 100-150 pillows on Oct. 30, as well as make turbans for cancer patients losing their hair.
"We've worked with the Relay for Life for several years, but Jean Chapman (the nutrition and health educational chairman for the DCEHA) came up with this idea as another real need in the county."
The pillows and turbans will be delivered after Oct. 30.
McCullough said she also had her students write a paper about the experience and many wrote that "it felt good to help someone else."
One girl wrote that "volunteer work is not work."
Rich Suwanski, 691-7315, rsuwanski@messenger-inquirer.com To see more of the Messenger-Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.messenger-inquirer.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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