News

Parish-made fidget mats valuable for Alzheimer’s patients

Hands of Mary volunteer group assemble mats for CHI St. Vincent Hospital Hot Springs

Published: December 12, 2022   

By James Keary
Hot Springs Correspondent

James Keary

Cathy Heck, a member of St. Mary of the Springs Church Shawl Committee, reviews the sewing on the fidget mat after it is completed Nov. 16.

James Keary

Cathy Heck, a member of St. Mary of the Springs Church Shawl Committee, reviews the sewing on the fidget mat after it is completed Nov. 16.

A group of ladies at St. Mary of the Springs Parish have changed their focus from knitting prayer shawls for sick people to creating fidget mats for people with Alzheimer’s. 

Lynn Lively, a member of St. Mary Shawl Committee, said the group learned that people who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and others who are autistic, will fidget by pulling and scratching at their IV tubes, clothing and skin when they are in the hospital. Hospitals discovered that fidget mats, also called sensory mats, can be used to distract patients. The mats are covered with buttons, beads, zippers, snaps and pockets to give the patients something else to “fidget” with.

“When they are in the hospitals, they will pull out their tubes and wires and pull on their skin,” Lively said. “It’s amazing, you place a mat in their laps, and they have something to fidget with.”

The Shawl Committee is a part of the Hands of Mary, which coordinates about 200 volunteers at St. Mary Church. Janet Borchert, president of the Hands of Mary, said they received a request from CHI St. Vincent Hospital Hot Springs to make the mats for its patients. Borchert said the project follows the organization’s mission, “Everything we do is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

She said commercially produced mats could cost up to $60 each, and the hospital had run out. They hope to create about 120 mats for the hospital.

Lively said after the request they proposed the idea to the Shawl Committee, which also makes baby blankets and hats for stillborn infants, to change their focus to making fidget mats. A group of 10 or more women meet on Wednesdays in the parish hall and have an assembly line where they create fidget items, such as pockets, and then arrange the items on the fabric mats to be sewed on. 

“We can make 20 to 25 mats a month,” Lively said. “We have 70 for CHI. We don’t have enough yet.”

She said it was all possible because parishioners at St. Mary Church have donated all of the materials, including the fabric for the mats and items to sew on them. 

Borchert said the Hands of Mary and other supporters paid for any materials that were not donated for making the 18-inch-by-24-inch mats. She said each mat is given to the patients because they become a personal item.

Lively said they are attempting to get other people involved in the project, especially young people.

“When we get the youth involved, they can take the mats and the fidget pieces and lay out the mats for sewing. 

“All of this has been donated by mostly people from the church,” Lively said. “The whole parish has embraced it.”

“It’s a wonderful project,” said Susan Rima, volunteer coordinator for CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs, said. “We are very appreciative of the time spent by volunteers of the Hand of Mary. People with memory issues start to fidget. With the mats, they will normally leave their IVs alone.”

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