Community sews more than 400 surgical caps for children

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) –New Hanover Regional Medical Center RN Janene Becker turned her passion for sewing into a project to make customized surgical caps for children at the hospital.

“Something that takes their mind off of why they’re there, even if it’s just for a few moments,” said Becker.

For a child who is scared and confused about getting surgery, a customized surgical cap could be just the thing to bring them those few moments of joy. Becker first got the idea when she came across another hospital that does this.

“My first thought was ‘Why aren’t we doing that here, at New Hanover?'” said Becker.

Becker has rallied support from all over the area and has opened her home to everyone who wants to help. They call it “Sewing Sundays.”

“I said ‘Look, let’s just gather up my home, instead of trying to gather people that have machines and gather at another place. Let’s just do it at my house,'” said Becker.

Their mission is to make sure every single child that visits the hospital gets to pick out their very own cap. Becker and her team have been at work for about a month and have already delivered 400 caps to the hospital.

“The kids are loving it and that just makes us work that much harder to make more caps,” said Becker.

You could call Becker’s home a surgical cap factory now, but she says everything is worth it when they see the joy these caps brings each child.

“Those smiles on those children’s faces when they have that moment of peace and gratitude that they have something they can take home, and that’s theirs, and they’re happy,” said Becker.

Becker says everyone is welcome to pitch in, whether it be donating time, money or materials. They have already received funding from the pediatric unit at NHRMC.