On Tuesday Marcy George and I (Vicki Welsh) delivered 48 quits to the new Fredericksburg VA facility. This brings our YTD total to 80!
This new facility is HUGE! We were greeted by Jen Farrell (our normal contact) and Dr. Tracey Graham, the Director of Nursing. I couldn't believe that she even had 5 minutes in her schedule to meet us but she took over an hour out of her day to give us a private tour of the facility! She was profuse in her praise of our quilts and our work. She is sincerely excited to have them as a resource for the patients in Fredericksburg.
We saw loads of exam rooms and walked through the Women's Clinic and Mental Health Clinic, saw where the Pharmacy, Optical, Rehab and other areas are.
This is a room where patients will get infusions, like chemo.
I seriously don't remember everything we saw but I am sure that there are MILES of hallways. Before going to see Interventional Radiography, we met 3 veterans and were allowed to present them with quilts.
It was fun to talk to them about how we make the quilts and to watch each one choose their special quilt. One is an Army vet and 2 are Air Force vets. They also volunteer at the facility, greeting patients as they arrive and helping them negotiate their way around, or just providing hugs of support.
Here we are with Jen (far left) and Tracey (far right). I can tell you that our quilts are highly valued by Tracey and the entire organization. At the end of our visit, Jen gave us a tour of Interventional Radiography. It's not open yet but is coming along. The whole facility is being opened in phases and will be 100% operational in early 2027. IR will be open in a few months. Because it's not open, we were able to see places where we would normally not be allowed.
This is the control room for the IR operation.
This is where the patients will have IR procedures, like getting ports inserted.
This is another big machine, maybe a CT scanner? I couldn't keep track of everything!
While in the Mental Health department we met someone who helps coordinate finding homes for homeless veterans. They recently were able to house about 40 veterans! Tracey suggested, and we agreed, that it would be nice to use some of the new quilts to provide them with a "housewarming" quilt gift.
Once IR opens the quilts will primarily go back to those patients. These are 2 of 5 bays where patients go to recover after they have had ports inserted. This is where they are presented with quilts.
We left very excited and energized to make more quilts. It was rewarding to see how much care they take with them and how much they appreciate our efforts.
Our friend Jen is leaving the VA to become a professor at the Bon Secours School of Nursing but she has asked to continue to be our delivery coordinator because she believes so strongly in the work we do. I'm thrilled that we can still deliver through her. She loves our quilts and our veterans as much as we do.
