Compassion Cards feed a need
the worst day of your life. There was a medical emergency and your loved one is in the hospital. Now, what’s for lunch?
Understandably, eating might be the last thing on your mind if a loved one was whisked to the hospital and you are pacing the room beside him. At the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center, that scenario happens every day.
Melanie Orintas, president of the UAMS Medical Center Auxiliary, puts it succinctly: “It’ll break your heart.”
She adds, “I can’t imagine what it would be like to be airlifted here in the middle of the night, have my clothes cut off me … and I don’t have anything.”
Among other things, the auxiliary provides patients’ families and caregivers basic necessities such as toiletries and other personal care items. And now, there’s a campaign to put one
more resource on the table — Compassion Cards, which will provide $25 meal cards for families to use at UAMS dining areas.
It was an idea whose time had come, and the auxiliary is working to get the word out during a month-long campaign that began Feb. 11.
“Our card is designed to help caregivers of patients in the hospital,” Orintas says. “It had come to the attention of the auxiliary through nurses, physicians and support staff that there was a tremendous need.
“People frequently come here from a long way, and a lot of times they’ll lose their jobs. Because they have limited means, they’re staying with their patient in the hospital and they’re not eating, or they’re sharing food from the patient’s tray.”
That isn’t healthy for patient or caregiver.
“If people are here for an extended period of time, which a lot of people are, it becomes their home. And we want them to feel like they’re taken care of — all their needs — because they’re taking care of the most important person in their lives.”
Orintas, a Realtor and Pocahontas native, has been with the Janet Jones Co. for more than 30 years and became relocation director about five years ago. Her job is to introduce newcomers to the area, and a tour of UAMS is often a part of it.
“That’s one of the reasons,” she says, “that when I was asked to join the auxiliary and be president, I didn’t hesitate for a moment, because I knew what this institution means to the state. I know that if myself or any member of my family needed treatment, this is where I’d go.”
Orintas has been with the auxiliary about two years, as has auxiliary president-elect Caitlin McNally, who takes over in June.
The altruistic concept behind Compassion Cards is a natural fit for McNally. The Michigan native is membership and event manager for Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.
“I hadn’t lived here long before I got the impression that UAMS was in high regard around the state,” McNally says. “Hunger is an issue that I’m passionate about and when I heard about what the auxiliary is trying to do to solve hunger within the hospital, I knew that I wanted to join.”
Orintas notes that medical auxiliaries “had a kind of stereotype” that isn’t the case at UAMS.
She says that many view such groups as “the little retired ladies with the white hair who wore the pink jackets, but that’s not true. There are so many opportunities at UAMS to get involved in all sorts of departments — pet therapy, makeovers for cancer patients through the Look Good, Feel Better program, the Family Resource Center. And so we’re trying really hard to attract a lot of people from different age groups to get involved.”
The Compassion Card Campaign is just the latest opportunity for the community to participate.
McNally believes one only needs four things to survive — water, air, sleep and food. “And if you are here in this already stressful situation and trying to make sure that your loved one is cared for, and you aren’t getting some of those items, then you aren’t at your best for that person. And they really need you at your best.”
Erin Gray, UAMS director of volunteer services, points out that the cards will not be handed out on a whim. “[A Compassion Card] is not something that everyone who walks into UAMS receives,” she says. “You do have to be assessed for need before we’re able to provide the support.” And why $25? Gray says, “Cards are in increments of $25 because that seems to take care of three days so that [caregivers] can kind of get their bearings. Three days is the average length of stay, but people can call in and put any amount on a Compassion Card. And the nice part is that every dollar that is given goes directly to a family.”