Local 12’s Liz Bonis explains in today’s Medical Edge.
Just a few months ago, Tom Devine arrived here UC’s emergency room at University Hospital.
Tom Devine, Patient: “I was up on the roof cleaning leaves and fell off onto the driveway, onto the concrete, so when I landed I was busted up pretty good, I couldn’t breath.”
Divine says cutting edge medical care here helped save his life, but when it came time to go home, he discovered he had nothing to wear!
“When you leave for the hospital, and there’s emergency vehicles and helicopters, nobody is thinking they are going to cut off all your clothes when you get there, but that’s exactly what they did.”
Luckily, Peggy Sogar stepped in. Sogar heads up a program here, called Fresh Start. Through private donations, sweat suits, socks, underwear and even, sometimes, footwear are provided for patients, when clothing is bloody or needs to be removed.
Peggy Sogar, Fresh Start Director: “It makes a big difference to a patient, and sometimes we’ll, even from a patient, a five dollar bill and a five dollar bill from a patient saying thank you for sending me home with a fresh sweatshirt to go home in, so it makes a big difference for a patient.”
“What a great detail for a hospital to offer something like that. It was a real nice touch and helped out a lot, trust me, helped out a lot.”
If you’d like to know how you can assist in this program, you can call the social work department at University Hospital at 513-584-4314.
UC Health University Hospital
Social Work Department
234 Goodman Street
M.L. 0743
Cincinnati, OH 45219
