At the Sunday, April 23rd worship service at First English Lutheran Church, five Dignity Quilts were blessed. These quilts were sewn by members of the Day of Love. On Tuesday, April 25th, at our Day of Love gathering, the quilts were presented to Stephanie Haukos and Misty Wittnebel, both of whom are with the Fairway View Nursing Home Neighborhoods. Three of the quilts have crosses and two of them are generic.
What is the purpose of a Dignity Quilt?
Dignity Quilts are a handmade quilt or coverlet that the Fairway View staff will carefully drape over a transport stretcher of a recently deceased patient before they are moved from their room. When the proper steps have been completed, they will proceed, with the family following, to the front door of the nursing home where their neighborhood friends and staff are gathered. It is here that there will be a brief reading and prayer by a staff member. The deceased will then be escorted with honor through the front door of Fairway View Neighborhoods by the funeral director and at which time the Dignity Quilt will be returned to a Fairway View Neighborhood staff member for the proper care.
All of these acts, are to offer a measure of comfort for the family, their neighborhood friends and staff AND more importantly provide a compassionate honor and dignity to the deceased serving as an important ritual at the end of life as their family, friends, and staff at the neighborhood say goodbye. When you are a resident at Fairway view Neighborhoods, you enter through the front door and when you leave at the end of life, you will leave through the front door with dignity and honor. These quilts serve as a symbolism of our compassion and caring for one another. The Day of Love at First English Lutheran is happy to be a part of this important life ending process.
