Vital Signs:
"Hello, Dolly!" at DHMC
She's known as the "fairy grandmother" of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), but she prefers to remain anonymous. Communicating through Elizabeth Stanton, a lawyer in the DHMC risk management department, the PICU's fairy grandmother handcrafts dolls for sick girls who are having an especially difficult time.
"Last week, we gave a doll to the sister of a young patient who died here," says Stanton. Since the dolls are typically given to patients, Stanton had called the doll maker to ask if she could give one to a sibling. "I knew her answer would be an enthusiastic 'yes,' and the very next day there was a new, beautiful doll sitting on my chair."
Over the last couple of years, the unknown benefactor has provided more than a dozen dolls, each of which has individualized hair and skin coloring and elaborate handmade clothing and accessories to match the season. "She is the kindest, sweetest, most accomplished woman," says Stanton of the doll maker. "Our fairy grandmother embodies the generosity of spirit— the very heart—of who we are at DHMC." J.D.
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