SHAWLS THAT SPEAK LOVE PRAYER SHAWL PROGRAM BRINGS COMFORT TO IU HEALTH PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing Photography Provided
In 2009, Nancy Murray took up crochet as a hobby and began delivering crocheted shawls to local cancer centers in Florida, where she was living at the time. Murray’s daughter Genina Miller, a clinical education coordinator at IU Health West Hospital, was busy creating end-of-life education content and assembling bereavement packets. “One day I was talking to mom on the phone and she said, ‘I’ll send you some prayer shawls to give to your patients,’” Miller says. From then on, Murray began sending a box of shawls to Hendricks County every month, and the prayer shawl program at IU Health West was born. Six years ago, Murray moved back to Indiana to be close to family. “She crocheted her little heart out,” says Miller, who describes her mother as a kind and loving soul - someone who never forgot a birthday, and who people sought out for advice. “She always was doing stuff to help people, whether it was taking groceries to them when they were sick, or volunteering at church.” Since IU Health West is interfaith and 6 / PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE / SEPTEMBER 2020 / PlainfieldMag.com
