Sickness

How to Help with Long-term Hospital Stays

Recently some friends of ours had an unexpected trauma that kept their family at the hospital for more then a week. If you've ever been at the hospital for a long time you know how expensive and unappetizing hospital food can get. There were so many friends that wanted to show their love for this family in a tangible way that we organized people to bring one hot, homemade meal to them each day. Here's some of the things that were especially appreciated:

• Bottled Water - This stuff is expensive at the hospital!
• A Basket of Fresh Fruit - This was a blessing at those times when no-one felt like eating a big meal. We included easy to eat fruits like Grapes, Plums and Bananas.
• Baked Goods - Things like cookies, muffins and rolls. They kept well without refrigeration and could be munched on at any time.
• Paper Products like napkins, plates and silverware. Remember at the hospital there is limited access to these items.
• Gift Cards for easy to find places like Starbucks and Subway. They used these to get breakfast and lunch items.

While we coordinated all the meals over the phone there is a great website resource for organizing meal rotations. I would highly recommend:

http://www.carecalendar.org/