By Barbara Tone, RN, NurseZone contributor
Like many good ideas, Hats of Hope was born of the frustration that comes
when you can't find something you want. Hats of Hope
was founded by a nurse, a psychologist, and
an educator who all had friends or family going through a cancer
experience. All three were looking for something beyond the usual hats
worn by chemotherapy patients—something inspiration—they decided to create
their own.
Searching for ideas, Joan Yarmovsky, the educator of the group, remembered a
friend who went though chemotherapy. The friend told
her that she found great comfort in repeating
the same words to herself when she went to her chemo
appointments. "Words really are powerful," said Yarmovsky, "so we
decided to use words of inspiration as the
foundation of our hats."
Hats of Hope are baseball caps. On the underside of the brim is printed the
word HOPE.
"So many people have told use how much it
means to glance up and see that word,"
Yarmovsky said.
The most unique part, however, are the messages printed inside the hats.
There are three message groups, each one offering
words of encouragement, words of strength, or
a bit of humor. The response has been overwhelming, with
many groups using the hats as fundraisers, Yarmovsky said.
"I wear my hat a lot," said Maria Griffin, a breast cancer survivor
from Lexington, Massachusetts. "And I
have given them to lots of other people. I love
the inspirational sayings inside. My favorite is the one from Eleanor Roosevelt:
'Do the thing you think you cannot do.' That's one thing that really
comes through when you're going through chemo."
Terri McLeod, manager of the Memorial Boutique at the Memorial Sloan
Kettering
Breast Cancer Center in New York said the hats are a very popular item at the
boutique.
"People just responded to them," she said. "They are a fun
item, baseball caps are very popular, and the messages really make people feel
good."
Executives at Novartis Oncology, an international oncology research company,
were so taken with idea of Hats of Hope that they
placed an order of hats specifically designed
for nurses and other health care professionals.
Novartis distributed their special-order caps at this year’s Oncology
Nursing Society conference in Washington, D.C.
"We weren't quite sure what the reaction would be," said Barbara
Kennedy, executive director of oncology scientific operations, "but it was
overwhelmingly positive."
The "nurse message" hats include:
- "Healing is not for the faint of heart"
- "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the
world."
- "You have never really lived until you've done something for someone who
cannot repay you."
- "Sigh. Sob. Scream. Laugh. Repeat."
Yarmovsky, who now works full-time with Hats of Hope, believes that the hats
reflect the nature of the struggle faced by many patients. "We all know
that what is visible from the outside does not always reflect our inner thoughts
and feelings. Our hats are designed from the inside out, just like us."
For more information, visit the Hats
of Hope Web site.