YELLOWWOOD Park Evening Womens Institute is joining women’s institutes’ from across the country in supporting the ‘fidget cushion’ initiative to help patients of Alzheimers and cerebral palsy.
‘Fidget cushions’ originally started as fidget aprons, but Linda Melson, a member of the Yellowwood Park Evening Institute (WEI) decided men didn’t want to wear an apron and that it was quite an issue to tie these aprons on the patients. So she designed the fidget cushion. Linda took the idea to a meeting the president of the Federation of Women’s Institutes, Rosemary Killen, decided to adapt it as a project for all women’s institutes in KwaZulu-Natal.
To help make ‘fidget cushions’ the WEI relies on those who sew in the institute to make a few cushions while those who don’t sew supply the materials and vegetable bag stuffing.
WEI president Vanessa Wilesmith is enthusiastic about the initiative. “Patients with Alzheimers often want to undo the buttons or zips of their clothes. Thanks to the fidget cushion they can now do it without exposing themselves in anyway,” she said.
According to Wilesmith, who has a relative with Alzheimers, different Alzheimers patients have different obsessions, so different textures and patterns are good stimuli for them. “I don’t know if the cushions will mean too much to the patient, but I think it will be a big asset to the nursing staff or caregiver as the patient’s focus will be on the cushion and thus allow them to go about other activities,” she said.
Wilesmith added that the benefit to people who want to make cushions is the act of kindness they’re showing to a stranger and she says the cushion is stress reliever for the caregiver, who is not always a professional person but a family member.
If anyone would like to get involved or have loved-ones who could benefit from a fidget cushion, they can contact WEI vice president, Sharon Quail on 031-469-8063. Women are welcome to join the WEI. They meet on the last Monday of the month at Yellowwood Park Bowling Club at 7.30pm.
