News and Notices

Kindness in a quilt


Nelson Hospital’s mortuary trolley will be a softer sight as it’s wheeled through wards now that it’s draped with a quilt.

Handmade in a ‘flutterby’ pattern, the quilt was made by ‘The Undercover Girls’ and donated to Nelson Tasman Hospice palliative care specialist Dr Jodie Battley who, in turn, donated it to Nelson Hospital for this purpose. The quilt has been blessed by Thomas Ngaruhe, Kaiwhakahaere Kaupapa, and will soon be in use.

Clinical nurse specialist Annie Wallace says the inclusion of the quilt into the process by which deceased people are transferred between their hospital bed and the mortuary demonstrates care and respect for a person after death. Annie says that the quilt may also mean the trolley is a less-confronting sight for whanau and friends.

mortuary trolley quilt2

From left, Pascale Zweifel, histologist and mortuary technician, Wendy Gibbins, team leader orderlies and clinical nurse specialist Annie Wallace with the donated quilt.