Local podiatrist and Kendallville Rotary member, Vincent Coda, DPM, made a very special stop at Parkview LaGrange Hospital’s Emergency Department this week. He dropped off over 100 pairs of new pajamas for children who are brought to the ER after local and state authorities have removed them from a meth house. The PJ’s were collected during the Kendallville Rotary’s third annual Pajama Drive.
“When children are found in these homes, they may have to be bathed and decontaminated at a hospital. The only thing they are able to take with them when they leave the hospital are pajamas since the clothes they arrived in are contaminated with drug residue,” said Kendallville Rotary president Heidi Ramer.
“The public has been truly generous this year,” said Coda. “We’ve collected more pajamas than ever before. It’s been heartwarming to see the level of public response.”
“We are very grateful for the donation,” said ER manager, Melissa Northrup, RN. “It’s hard to see these children and the state they – and their clothes – are in when they arrive here at the ER. It will mean a lot to the staff as well as the kids to be able to provide them with a fresh, clean pair of pajamas before they leave us.”
Kendallville Rotarians dropped off over 450 pair of pajamas between the Noble Count DCFS office and the Kendallville police department on Friday and made a similar donation to Parkview Noble Hospital in September, shortly after the start of this year’s drive. According to figures released by the state for 2008, LaGrange and Noble counties were in the top five counties in Indiana for meth seizures.
Photo caption: Vincent Coda, DPM, stopped by the Parkview LaGrange Hospital Emergency Department to drop off over 100 pairs of new pajamas in children’s sizes with the compliments of the Kendallville Rotary. On hand to receive the pj’s were Missy Northrup, RN and Deb Garrett of the hospital’s ER staff.