Gift provides comfort to smallest patients
Jimmy Green, 2, of Canonsburg pulls a stuffed animal out of a comfort bag that Michael Kazmarski, Lion’s Club chaplain, right, gave him. Jimmy’s mother Katie Green, back right, and his grandmother Amy Mavrich are pictured behind him.
Jimmy Green, 2, of Canonsburg plays with a toy he received in a comfort bag Thursday.
Michael Kazmarski, left, Lion’s Club chaplain, carries a box filled with comfort bags into Canonsburg Hospital’s emergency department.
CANONSBURG – While Michael Kazmarski’s son, Liam, was treated for leukemia at a Pittsburgh hospital, staff provided the 3-year-old with a collection of items to soothe and comfort him: small toys, a stuffed animal and activity books.
Liam died July 31, and Kazmarski, assistant supervisor of security at Canonsburg Hospital, never forgot the small act of kindness.
“I figured if it worked for him, the same idea would work here,” he said.
Kazmarski, along with the Greater Canonsburg Lions Club, presented comfort bags – filled with a blanket, books, educational toys, a stuffed animal, crayons and coloring books – to Canonsburg Hospital personnel Thursday. The bags will be given to children aged 1 to 6 years old when they are treated in the emergency department.
“This is a wonderful addition for kids,” said Dr. Kathleen Latouf, medical director of the emergency department. “It’s never easy when (children) come to the hospital. To have something to entertain them is a wonderful addition.”
Kazmarski, chaplain of the service organization, delivered bags to three young patients.
”This is a good way to keep them busy,” said hospital CEO Jane Sarra. “This will help parents, too.”
The organization provided the hospital with 30 bags and will continue to replenish the stock as long as donations continue to come in, Kazmarski said. He and Lions Club members plan to do more service projects to help hospitalized children through a foundation in his son’s honor, “Liam’s Crew.”
The group divided the bags into age-appropriate categories.
After being given his bag, 2-year-old Jimmy Green cuddled a stuffed animal as he waited to be discharged to his Canonsburg home.
Kazmarski chose Thursday to distribute the bags in honor of Children’s Grief Awareness Day, which recognizes children dealing with loss.
“I thought it would be an appropriate thing to do on this day,” Kazmarski said.