Earlier this month one of Shelby’s friends passed away. They met at Memorial Hospital at least seven years ago. Shelby really wagged her tail when she saw Patch coming. Patch loved Shelby and just gushed all over her. They truly enjoyed seeing each other. Their visits were never very long because Patch was always going a hundred miles an hour so, sometimes we’d see her in a different part of the hospital later in our visits.
Our hearts dropped when we received this message.
It is with great sadness that I share with you, our own Patch passed away at home last night (Tues, 10/2).
Many of you know that Patch was a American Red Cross relief worker for many years and spent 3 months at Ground Zero after the attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001. She arrived in NY two weeks after the disaster and helped provide relief services to shell shocked clientele. She put a cup with Hershey’s kisses on her “desk” (table) and two teddy bears to help ease the tension for the little ones. According to a passage from her book about 9/11, she met a man with tears in his eyes, who told her he had never in his life asked anyone for help, but he had lost his business, all of his employees had died and he didn’t know where to turn. She arranged to meet his most emergent needs and then gave him a referral to other agencies. In order to make him relax a little, she told him her “California Lemonade Story” – little children in California sold lemonade and sent all their money to the Red Cross to give to those suffering. Patch would say to her clients: “What do you want me to do, go back and tell those little kids you don’t want it?” It got them every time! They would smile through their pride and relax as she did her job.
The above illustrates how much Patch cared for her fellow human beings. She volunteered at SRMH for almost 13 years (8,617 hours) in our Emergency Department, in addition to volunteering with the SR Police Department, volunteering with Hospice, providing pet therapy services, working at Healdsburg General Hospital as a chaplain, etc… She worked in twenty-four major disasters in the United States and Guam and had received several awards for her exceptional humanitarian work.
Her family said that there would not be a service for Patch, her wishes were to be cremated and her ashes spread at the 911 Memorial.
I’ve always heard that the good die young… and it just ain’t so. At least not where Patch was concerned.
Good news followed, there would be a service at a nearby church. It was a beautiful fall afternoon when Shelby, Cindi and I stood at the door of the church and greeted Patch’s friends, other hospital volunteers and family. We sat towards the back of the church and listened as folks talked about her and her life. I like services where there’s lot’s of laughs, giggles and tears. This one was full of each.
Patch loved Therapy Dogs and towards the end of the service, her beautiful brown Border Collie arrived with her new Mom. She knows how special her Mom was and will love her new Mom just as much as she loved Patch.
under: Craclin Rose'