At the Professional Library at Lincoln County Hospital, part of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT), we have a patient library trolley that our library volunteers take around the wards so that patients can borrow books to help them pass the time and escape for a little while whilst in hospital. When a patient borrows a book they are given a bookmark.
We are always running out of bookmarks to give to patients and so we asked Woodhall Spa Public Library for help. The library very kindly agreed to take this on as an ongoing project and encourage library users, of all ages, to create bookmarks to send to us, from toddlers at storytime to grown-ups using it as a way to enjoy mindful colouring!
One Woodhall Spa library user, who is the librarian at St Andrews School Woodhall Spa, got the local school involved to help with this project. We have received over 150 book marks from KS2 school children, with a promise of more to be made in the future. They are so beautiful and bright and our volunteers were very excited to be taking these with them to the ward as it is gestures like these that really help lift a patient’s spirits.
We are so very grateful to Woodhall Spa Library and St Andrews School, Woodhall Spa for the help and support they give us.
Woodhall Spa and Long Sutton Library have craft groups and individuals who also make twiddlemuffs for dementia patients that we distribute between our hospital sites at Grantham, Pilgrim and Lincoln.
It is so important to have these links, it’s not only beneficial for the patients but also useful for the school children to be involved in helping the community. These projects are heartening for everyone involved and really show what an amazing community spirit there is and we are so thankful to have their support. #ultimateULHT #ULHread4leisure #ULHTLKS #lincslibraries