Mats made from sterilization wrapping sheets provide some comfort for individuals sleeping in the open
By PATRICIA CORRIGAN
Veronica Marella, a surgical technologist at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., shows the mats she makes for homeless individuals.
Sometimes, a small shift in thinking can make a big difference in people's lives. Veronica Marella, a surgical technologist at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., was aware that every day, surgical trays were sterilized while wrapped in blue sheets made from a dense, unwoven fabric — and then those sheets were discarded.
"We'd always thought there was no other use for them," Marella said. Then one day last spring, she was suddenly inspired as she looked at the soft, sturdy sheets. Now Marella spends about three hours every day constructing sleeping mats from the sheets. She distributes them to homeless individuals.
"My co-workers at the hospital help collect the wraps, and I take them home and sew them into mats," said Marella. "It's really easy. I was brought up to help others, and this is something I can do to help the poor and vulnerable."
Marella pins a sleeping mat for machine stitching.
The finished sleeping mats measure 4 feet by 4 feet and are roughly the thickness of a standard yoga mat. They are heat resistant and water repellent. To date, Marella has distributed more than 200 and assembled another 270. She lives with her four sons in Gardena, a city in the southwestern region of Los Angeles County. Some 40,000 homeless people live in the county.
The mats carry a stamped image of a heart and the words "du cOeuR," which means "from the heart" in French. The "O" and "R" are uppercase, a tribute to their original use in the operating room, where Marella works alongside doctors and nurses as part of the surgical team. Marella attaches elastic bands to the lightweight mats so they easily can be rolled up and carried, much like a yoga mat.
Marella's initial experiences with homeless individuals occurred years ago when she worked as a sheriff's deputy, first at a jail and then at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center, one of the largest public hospitals in the country. Even then, she was concerned about the people she saw sleeping on sidewalks. After working with nurses and doctors, she returned to school for training as a surgical technologist.
Recently Marella met an individual who had received one of her mats from St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Redondo Beach while taking part in a lunch program for the homeless. After the man's mat was taken, he rode his bike about 4 miles to Torrance to ask Marella for a replacement. "I was so touched that he would come all that way on his bike just to get another mat," she said.
The hospital plans to expand distribution of the mats. Lauren Lewow, external communication specialist at Providence Health & Services in the Los Angeles Region, said, "We are partnering with Veronica to help identify new opportunities and sites to pass out her mats, and we're working to have these as an amenity offered to indigent patients in the emergency department. Additionally, Veronica hopes to connect with colleagues across the system to join her mission of outreach to the homeless."
Marella credits some of her co-workers with developing novel ways to reuse other materials routinely discarded, but she says she will stick to making mats. "This project is close to my heart," she said. "If anyone looks carefully, no matter where they work, there are plenty of ideas out there for recycling that can help people."
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