BY EVELYN CHENG
Four quilts on display at the Queens Hospital Center this summer are the result of a project that generated awareness about cancer services and brought healing to the quilters.
For a year and a half beginning back in January 2010, about 30 people, including cancer survivors and the family or friends of cancer victims, met at the Queens Pomonok Library, at 158-21 Jewel Ave. in Flushing, and the Queens Community House-Pomonok Center at 67-09 Kissena Blvd. in Flushing to make quilt blocks and share their cancer experiences. For many, the meetings were the first time they had spoken about their encounters with the disease.
“They found support through this experience,” said Tamara Michel, Queens Library Healthlink Community Outreach coordinator.
The quilting project was sponsored by Queens Pomonok Library’s Cancer Action Council, which offers cancer or health-related services. Similar councils at various library branches are part of the Queens Library Healthlink, a partnership among Queens Library, the Queens Cancer Center, the American Cancer Society and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
A small group met every Wednesday evening at the Queens Community House to work on quilt blocks. Youth administrator Thadine Wormly-Herndon appreciated how the group created a safe environment for sharing. Although Wormly-Herndon said some lung cancer survivors had been slighted in other cancer care groups for having caused their own illness through smoking, the quilting group sought to be encouraging.
“Everyone was in the class for the same reason,” Wormly-Herndon said. “It was a healing type of project. You can take something painful and make something good about it.”
Another quilting group met once a month on Saturday afternoons at the Queens Pomonok Library. Although the class was only scheduled to last one hour, participants would often stay the entire afternoon.
“The greatest benefit was watching all the people come together from different communities and form friendships,” said Mattie Bell, customer service supervisor and leader of the quilters at Queens Pomonok Library.
Through quilting, Bell said she realized how many people she knew who had been affected by cancer.
“When you sit down with a group and talk about it, it helps,” Bell said. “It kind of like helped you to release some of it.”
Retired certified social worker Gails Bridges lives near the Queens Pomonok Library and had never quilted before.
“It was an unexpected, rewarding experience, actually,” she said. “You really have no idea how cathartic it was.”
Quilters came from all over Queens and compiled a booklet and DVD about their cancer experiences. The quilts will be on display in the lobby of the Queens Hospital Center, at 82-68 164th St., in Jamaica for about a month.
Reach reporter Evelyn Cheng by phone at 718-260-4524.
