Nurses sew special shirts for patients with cancer

Mediports are devices surgically implanted under the skin on the chest to provide access to a large vein. They’re a convenient way for patients to have regular cancer treatment or blood draws. Accessing them, though, is anything but convenient.

“Typically, the neckline of the shirt worn had to be stretched or patients had to remove their shirts entirely to allow appropriate access to keep the procedure sterile,” explains Mandie Hall, clinical registered nurse supervisor in hematology-oncology at Geisinger. “It made patients feel uncomfortable or embarrassed, not to mention they got cold or tired of holding their shirt down, because the procedures can be lengthy.”

So Ms. Hall and her team of oncology nurses took matters into their own hands. They’d read about a woman in Mississippi whose church group was making “caring shirts” for her granddaughter with cancer. When they reached out to her, she was happy to share her template — and tips for success.

Ms. Hall’s team got to work and made bright blue shirts with a snapped opening from the neckline down to the elbow for easy access to a mediport.

“Patients can now unsnap the shirt, and it flaps open in the front so you just see the port,” says Ms. Hall. “They don’t have to hold their shirts, and we don’t have to worry about contamination. The caring shirts keep patients covered, warm, protected and dignified.”

The caring shirts were so well received by patients that Geisinger Health Foundation’s William Hoover Cancer Patient Assistance fund donated 120 more shirts, which are now available to all Geisinger patients who have mediports.

Ms. Hall says, “We’re thrilled to provide these shirts for patients to help ease the burden a cancer diagnosis can bring.”