A gift ‘from the heart’
Hantsport women team up to create fidget quilts for people with dementia
Cathy Dunbar and Beth McBrine often finish each others’ sentences, interjecting with stories and jokes.
The lifelong friends grew up on Maple Street in Hantsport and, although distance separated them for a few decades, they easily picked up where they left off when they reconnected about 15 years ago.
Now, the pair spends Tuesdays and Fridays working together on a project that betters the lives of people living with dementia. The duo create fidget quilts.
These brightly-coloured quilts, which feature bobbles, zippers and various sensory and tactile experiences, have been popping up in homes and in continuing care residences across Hants County and the Annapolis Valley since the start of 2018.
“Some people volunteer at the Elms and read to people. Some people volunteer at Dykeland and do puzzles. This is what we do. There’s all different types of volunteerism,” said McBrine.
Dunbar first discovered a pattern for fidget quilts near the end of January 2018.
“It was a pure fluke,” said Dunbar, indicating she saw the item while searching the Internet for something unrelated and was drawn to clicking on it.
“I’ve sewn all my life, so I had all of this extra material and thought I could use all those ends. I have experience in long-term care and knew that they could be used,” said Dunbar.
During an evening playing cards with McBrine, Dunbar showed her a fidget quilt and McBrine immediately wanted to get involved.
“I said, ‘I think my dad could use one of those,’ so she said, ‘come on over and we will get started on one.’ Before the morning was over, we had three made,” recalled McBrine.
They’ve since donated about 60 four-by-five foot fidget quilts plus several smaller two-by-two foot quilts, and they’re on a mission to get one into the hands of everyone who could benefit from using them.
“We want everyone who needs one to have one of their own,” said McBrine.
Making a difference
McBrine noticed the difference the quilt made for her father, John Morse, who lives at the R.E.A.L. Residence in Windsor. Morse, who worked alongside Dunbar’s late father, Buddy McCully, at Minas Basin, has vascular dementia.
“My dad was always a great one for reading the paper. He had the daily paper, the Hants Journal, the Berwick Register, the Kentville Advertiser, the Globe and Mail — he read every day,” said McBrine.
And as dementia began to progress, his hands would become black with ink because he would be constantly taking the newspapers apart and then putting them back together and folding them up, McBrine said.
“He also developed a neurological scratching and this has stopped that as well — along with medications and stuff. It’s taken his focus off of it.”
The quilts help people refocus their attention.
“They’re called fidget quilts, and immediately when in your hand, you will fidget. What we’re doing is, the person is already fidgetting so we’re giving them something to fidget with,” explained Dunbar.
Dunbar said it’s been rewarding seeing the fidget quilts in the hands of those who need them. After spending seven years with her mother in various long-term care facilities, Dunbar said she knew there were residents who could benefit from such a gift.
Gift that keeps on giving
Margaret Coghill, the program director at the Wolfville Nursing Home, said fidget quilts can serve as a soothing activity for those with busy hands.
The nursing home recently received several fidget quilts from Dunbar and McBrine. Since every quilt is unique, employees of the care facility are allowing the residents to select the ones that they are drawn to. Each quilt will be theirs to keep.
“They’re very similar, but they’re also very distinct, whether that’s the colour or what’s on it,” said Coghill.
“They all have Velcro and buttons, but they’re individual, so different people are going to benefit from different things and there are different needs that the residents have that will be met.”
She said the nursing home will also keep a quilt on the table in one of the lounge areas that everyone can access. At the end of each day, the quilt will be laundered so it stays clean.
Coghill says it’s not just dementia patients that benefit from the fidget quilts. People who used their hands a lot — whether for work or leisure — or those who have anxiety might find them beneficial.
“These are mostly women who have knitted in the past and done crochet work. Now their hands are idle... These are things that continue to keep their fingers busy and exercise them,” said Coghill, adding the fidget quilts help keep fingers nimble.
“I think it’s a soothing activity for them. It’s something you can do when you’re not thinking about doing it. Sort of like when they were knitting and watching TV or at a meeting or whatever. It’s very soothing to be able to have something tactile that you can manipulate and move around,” Coghill added.
“We all have things that we like to keep in our hands, whether flipping a coin or twiddling our pens.”
The fidget quilts feature sewn-in items, like Velcro and elastic, that can’t be easily removed by residents.
Coghill commended Dunbar and McBrine for their initiative and said the quilt donation was appreciated.
“I’m just really grateful that these two ladies have taken the time to do this and to offer it so freely.”
Benefits abound for dementia patients
Linda Bird, the director of programs and services for the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia, said she’s aware of fidget quilts, also called activity quilts, and the benefits they can have.
“As the disease symptoms progress, people’s ability to communi- cate, to identify what is bothering them or tell people what their needs are decreases,” explained Bird.
“People could be restless, anxious, frustrated and not be able to let somebody else know and that could come out in your body movements. Redirecting somebody to something that they find comforting can help reduce some of the feelings that they may be having.”
Bird said activity quilts feature different textures, like silk and fur, which can be quite calming. They also have items that keep hands busy, like zippers and pull-strings.
“It’s just something to focus on and calm them down.”
Bird said she’s not sure how long activity quilts have been around — businesses make them, and there are other volunteers in the province who create them — but they are a wonderful gift.
“I think as a community, we all want to help, and Nova Scotia has a great history of craftsmanship so to have community women and men putting efforts into making these items that can help somebody is a lovely gift to be able to give,” said Bird.
She said it would be nice for these quilts to be available to anyone who may benefit from their use.
“Like anything, what works for you or me might not work for the next person. It’d be nice if they were available for those who use them to help calm them or who found them a help in their day-today,” she said.
Community support evident
Dunbar and McBrine have donated quilts to both individuals and organizations and are hoping to continue helping as many people as they can.
But, it’s an expensive undertaking.
Dunbar and McBrine have been footing the bill to create the pieces. Earlier this spring, Dunbar, rather reluctantly, put a call out on Facebook for donations of fabric, buttons, zippers, lace and Velcro. She said the response has been overwhelmingly supportive, with several donations being made.
The hardest items to get — and ones they generally pay for — are pieces of brightly-coloured material that could work for the quilts’ backing, as they need .85 metres for each one, plus the batting and the binding.
“The bigger pieces haven’t come in but I’m totally overwhelmed by how positive (the response was) just by putting that out on Facebook,” said Dunbar.
McBrine and Dunbar, who call themselves The 2 Fidgeteers, are appreciative of the community support and are hoping people will continue to donate items.
They’re always looking for material, elastic, Velcro, ribbon, zippers, flat lace, toggles and wide ric-rac. Financial donations will go towards purchasing batting, material and bias tape for binding the quilts.
The Lockhartville Baptist Church and the Hantsport and District Lions Club have already donated to the cause, as have a few other community members.
Each quilt is handmade — and that’s just how Dunbar and Mc- Brine like it.
“It is a pure donation from us — it’s not a business. It’s from the heart. There’s a need there and we’re trying to meet it,” said Dunbar.
“I would like to keep it as personal as I can keep it.”