Blue Wrap Everything
What do you get when you cross a medical student with a mission of helping those in need? Meet Carol Fonseca, a third-year doctor-in-training who picked up on an idea from other hospitals around the country to repurpose plastic blue sheets from operating rooms into sleeping bags. This strong, insulated “blue wrap” has been used to make everything from scrubs to prom dresses – but about 255 million pounds of it ends up in landfills every year.
That’s where Carol comes in. Combining her passion for environmentalism and people, she started an initiative in Ascension Providence Hospital of Southfield to make sleeping bags for the homeless. She brought up the issue with nurses and surgeons in her surgery rotations who agreed that the material was needlessly wasted.
After assembling a team of volunteers to turn blue-wrap into sleeping bags, she got in touch with Captain Jamie Winkler of The Salvation Army Harbor Light System. Carol was able to have about 20 sleeping bags made and delivered before the COVID-19 pandemic started. “We are very grateful for the support, creativity, and compassion for the people of Detroit,” says Winkler.
As COVID-19 restrictions begin to lift, Carol is looking into making a second batch of sleeping bags, and more volunteers with sewing experience are needed! Please contact us if you are interested in volunteering to sew sleeping bags.