Joan Portman

Broschiertes Buch

Creative Healing Places

Stories of Hope, Comfort, and Inspiration

Beschreibung

When the doctors told my husband, "Your father has brain cancer," our world went dark. Harry was a bright light in our family-funny, out-going, and always ready with bear hugs and jokes. We were filled with questions.Will he survive? Will he suffer? What treatments and medications are available? How can we help him with whatever lies ahead? This heartwarming book shares the silver lining legacy inspired by accompanying Harry during his nine-month battle with the disease that ultimately claimed his life. That legacy became the Healing Environments Program we created for the Saint Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Pennsylvania in 2007. This program relied on the creative abilities of off-site crafters who generously volunteered their time and talents creating handmade items of comfort which were offered as gifts to seriously ill patients by on-site volunteers. Over nine years, we visited more than 26,000 patients, gifting them with 9,329 afghans, shawls, and quilts, plus 18,250 additional comfort items such as neck roll pillows, mastectomy pillows, and hair-loss caps. It is my sincere desire that you find within these pages an awakening to ways you can reach out in compassion to help those you know and love or to provide comfort to perfect strangers. I also hope you discover some answers to the question, "What can I possibly do to help?" And in finding those answers, may you also be blessed to discover your own 'healing place.' It is said, a candle loses nothing of its brilliance by lighting another candle. As you offer yourself in service to others, some aspect of your life will inevitably be healed.

Autor

Joan M. Portman is a passionate advocate for finding creative ways to improve people's lives, in part due to more than nine years coordinating her Healing Environments Program. Joan applied the knowledge gained earning her BA in Art (and Design), to initiate what became her 30-year career as an award-winning interior designer, specializing in high-end residential projects. She applied her extensive knowledge of Feng Shui to enhance her singular talents. Joan thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her clients to be able to personalize their home environments to fit their unique lifestyles. Her clients inevitably became friends.In 2007, Joan introduced her Healing Environments Program to Lillian Schonewolf, then Director of Volunteer Services at St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne, PA. Upon approval, Joan reached out to the Bucks County community and inspired more than 300 volunteer crafters to get involved to create handmade items of comfort for hospital patients, (afghans, hair-loss caps, baby blankets, mastectomy and heart pillows, to name a few). These were then offered as gifts to more than 26,000 patients by specially trained on-site hospital volunteers.Creating A Healing Place: Touching the Lives of 29,000 Patients, Caregivers and Beyond is a compilation of true stories about experiences gathered from these volunteers, crafters, hospital staff, and clergy, as the lives of patients and their families were enhanced. Through this work, Joan has served thousands of families. Joan's on-going mission, Sew Many Smiles: Creating Brighter Days with Handmade Love! is her next means of spreading joy and comfort to those in need, while simultaneously inspiring people of all ages to become involved in this effort. Her goal with this movement is to light up the world with handmade items. Our current goal is 10 million smiles. I'm reaching out to crafters, artisans and creators of things made with love, and to those eager to support their efforts. How many can you help us make? When not writing, speaking or crocheting afghans and other comfort items to donate, Joan thoroughly enjoys time with her family and friends, and making new friends. Kayaking, biking, gardening and nature hikes provide more welcome activities.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Authority Publishing
• Seitenzahl: 284
• Erscheinungstermin: 14. September 2022
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 203mm x 127mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 308g
• ISBN-13: 9798886360103
• Artikelnr.: 65727168