As you know, lab coats cannot be thrown away. To protect our patients’ safety, the person who wore it, and the med center, the coats need to have names/branding removed.
You may recall that LiveGreen collects these coats, removes those items and donates the coats to local schools, where they provide protection for the student in science, art or cooking classes, and schools don’t have to buy single use plastic ones.
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Maurine Bryan |
This was easy as we switched brands and the old coats had names on pockets and a patch with the brand. But as new brand coats are being sent in, it’s increasingly difficult to remove the necessary items and leave the coat in a usable condition. Some coats are sent to research labs on campus, as they are more likely to need extra coats, and the coats often don’t have names embroidered on.
Learn how to recycle old lab coats.
The rest have the name and patch cut out, and are sent to Maurine Bryan of Omaha. Bryan is the 88 year-young mother of Julie Garfield Oltman, business manager in Strategic Communications. Maurine has been sewing for most of her life, starting in 4-H. She’s now known as the “resident tailor” at Elmwood Tower – taking in clothes, fixing buttons and zippers and even performing “surgery” on stuffed toys or dolls.
Bryan cuts squares from the lab coats and then sews the blankets with pieces of fabric left from other projects. She started making lap blankets (examples shown in picture above) for seniors in her community, who were often cold. The lap blankets were the perfect size to cover them without interfering with a wheelchair. She repurposed the lab coat pockets on these blankets as a place for someone to keep a tissue or a remote control and uses the buttons to keep the layers together.
Now, most of her blankets go to kids in need through Completely Kids. As you may imagine, non-profits see a lot of different people, and there’s always a need — and that was before the pandemic. Kids get a pocket to hide a toy or tissue; extra pockets are donated to another seamstress who makes bags that hang on walkers, providing an extra pocket on the outside.
Bryan is modest so she hasn’t counted, but Oltman (who also is the delivery driver) knows she’s made more than 50. It’s wonderful way to upcycle these lab coats and help people in need.
Wonderful idea!
What a wonderful, thoughtful thing to do by upcycling the old lab coats. So grateful they are going to a great cause.
Great story! Thanks for sharing! And thanks Maurine Bryan for sharing your gifts!
Thank you Maurine Bryan for your repurpose projects!
What a wonderful use of our old lab coats, still caring for people.