On the days when Samantha isn’t busy being a renal nurse educator at RBWH, she is a member of the Arana Hills ‘Knitting for the Needy’ group making special knitted pieces for her patients.
Sam has only just recently joined the group, but already has contributed a handful of beanies, scarves, shawls, mittens, and mended broken blankets or half-finished projects to be distributed to various hospitals and charities.
Sam knows that her patients receiving kidney dialysis treatment often get cold, especially on their hand on the arm that the vascular access fistula is in.
“Typically, that hand will receive less perfusion or blood flow, resulting in that hand getting cold which is why I made the special mittens,” Sam said.
“This group has been very kind to me, helping me go through a rough time so I want to return the favour – it feels good being able to give back and offer comfort to my patients.”