When we say goodbye
Drouin Country Women’s Association has been hard at work making handmade tote bags for the West Gippsland Healthcare Group’s oncology unit.
The tote bags are gifted to people after a loved one dies at the West Gippsland Hospital and are used to hold their loved one’s personal belongings.
The bags are carefully crafted and include a front pocket for important documents and a smaller drawstring bag inside for items such as jewellery and watches.
Each bag features a colourful design and a swing tag offering the condolences of the CWA members to the families of those who died.
The initiative, called “When We Say Goodbye” was initiated by oncology nurse Sinead Hickmott in partnership with Drouin CWA, and has grown in recent years.
“When We Say Goodbye” focuses on sustainability in many ways – the sustainability of the resources used to make the bags, the sustainability of the community and the sustainability of nurses and doctors in providing care to the community.
All materials for the bags are sourced from donations including fabrics, curtains and sheets.
Sinead has been a registered nurse since 1995 and has spent the majority of her career working in intensive care, specifically end-oflife care.
Sinead studied with the Gippsland Regional Palliative Care Consortium in 2021 to expand her skill and knowledge of palliative care, and part of this course included a quality improvement project which was how “When We Say Goodbye” was born.
“This initiative was started when I approached the Country Women’s Association in Drouin and was born out of the COVID pandemic. The skill, enthusiasm and support of the ladies have been overwhelming. “When We Say Goodbye” has grown beyond anything we expected,” Sinead said.
“Handing a family their deceased loved one’s personal belongings in a plastic bag had always felt somewhat cold and clinical, even more so during the pandemic lockdowns, when families could not be with their loved one at the end.
“Providing these handmade tote bags instead of plastic bags was a small way that we could share the fact that we cared about their loved one. It was a way of saying goodbye and giving it some sentiment.
Drouin CWA member Yvonne Tindle said the group also supplied chemotherapy bags to West Gippsland Hospital and other hospitals in Victoria and found the process “very rewarding”.
She said the group’s members had “helped fill a void” and it was not unusual to have families who hade received bags or patients receiving chemotherapy contact them to say thank you.
WGHG director of clinical operations Trish O’Kelly said the handmade tote bags were special donations.
“These beautiful bags have been well received in the community,” she said.
“The hard-working volunteers at the Country Women’s Association in Drouin are dedicated to creating these special bags for our families and we thank each and every one of them.”
In May last year, the CWA totes were presented at the ANMF Health and Environmental Sustainability Conference in Melbourne, which showcases sustainability initiatives in all aspects of health care across the community.