Caps help children face surgery with a smile
BY MICHELLE L. START Florida Weekly Correspondent

COURTESY PHOTO This is a child wearing one of the caps designed by Sew Angelic.

Sponge Bob, Spiderman, Dora the Explorer and Strawberry Shortcake are frequenting operating rooms around the world, thanks to a program implemented by The Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida.

In 1999, a group of nurses began making colorful caps for children to wear while undergoing surgery. The program, called Sew Angelic, has just received its U.S. patent and kits have been shipped as far as China and New Zealand.

"It has been a wonderful program for us," said Sandi Falk, registered nurse and pediatric specialist.

She said the program started after the hospital began allowing staff to wear their own uniforms and children responded to the sports team logos and the crazy colors. The nurses decided to replace the paper hats that children were wearing into surgery with simple fabric ones.

Dr. John Donaldson, current board chairman for Lee Memorial Health System, helped to finance the first caps with his own money.

They purchased brightly colored fabrics and the program was born.

Just before surgery, a hatbox is brought to children. The hospital gives out about 100 a week.

"The children loved it," said Falk. "We let the children choose. They don't have to choose anything. There's no individuality here. The parents get involved and they loved it.

"With children, the problems are twofold. You are dealing with children and you have very anxious parents. The hats seemed to be providing a nice escape for everyone involved. We found that it helped to lessen the anxiety of going into the operating room. We know anxiety can cause post operative problems."

Since it was implemented, children have received some 12,000 hats and residents at Cypress Cove retirement center have joined in to make new hats every week.

Children losing their hair are also given hats when they visit their oncologist. On holidays and other special days throughout the year, hats are also given to adult patients at

HealthPark Medical Center as well.

Most of the fabric is donated, but Falk also shops online, trying to find good deals.

"It has been a win-win for everybody," said Falk. "The hospital has saved money on the paper hats. There's no more arguing with the children. It's amazing what a hat can do."

Falk said that some parents have taken the hat selection as a sign that everything is going to be OK.

Once she had a 12-year-old girl with leukemia that was about to undergo surgery. She wanted a cap to match her comforter, but there wasn't one in the box.

Instead the girl picked a hat to match her sister's comforter, but then Falk remembered that she had seen the pattern before and rummaged through storage to find the matching cap.

"The mom burst into tears," Falk said. "She said it was a sign from God. It was just a simple hat that matched a comforter."

While staff at The Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida is convinced that the hats are making a difference, they are undertaking a study that will show the results to others, Falk said.

"We are working on an evidence based practice to see if it really does make a difference," she said. "We're comparing before with after. We plan to go to the Association of Preoperative Registered Nurses with a new poster and have them look at these numbers and see what a difference it makes." ¦