Remembering teens

Down the hall from the pediatric patients at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge is a somewhat overlooked group: teens and adolescents who are hospitalized.

They have their own space, with a pool table, video games and portable computers that can be brought into their rooms, but they don't seem to draw as many community groups looking to brighten their holidays as the little ones do.

Enter a group of seniors from the memory care unit at Addolorata Villa in Wheeling, just looking for a service project to engage them.

For the last few years, the seniors have adopted the young adult patients, bringing them gifts over various holidays.

Their most recent visit took place last week, when they traveled by bus bringing the stuffed animals they had made -- literally -- and packaged in holiday gift bags, with notes attached.

The first patient they visited was Lawrence Triplett, a freshman at Warren Township High School, who spends time in the unit regularly to help with his chronic illness.

He selected a lion from the gift bags, because it reminded him of the movie, "The Lion King." On hand to visit with him was Lillian Ryczek on what turned out to be her 90th birthday.

Another patient who enjoyed their visit was Roxanna Flores, 16, of Hanover Park. The petite teen has spina bifida and has been hospitalized since before Halloween. She selected an alligator from among the gift bags, and then hugged it tightly.

The visit sparked memories for senior resident Jeanne O'Shaughnessy as she dropped off a gift for Wesley Sinclair of Arlington Heights, who had just returned to his room after surgery.

O'Shaughnessy had raised seven children of her own, and the project rekindled some of those hectic years of raising teenagers.

The project proved to be a heartwarming one for Donna Swanson, coordinator of Addolorata Villa's 24 patients in its Memory Care Unit.

"I never underestimate the feelings and emotions of our memory loss patients," Swanson says. "They very much prefer community service projects to other activities we do. They were very, very energized by this, and they came away feeling very good about themselves."

The men in the group respond to the project as much as the women, she says.

Their project began back in October, when the group traveled to a studio in Glenview where they made stuffed animals, even tucking a special wish inside each one along with its down stuffing.

Knowing their patients would be male and female, they selected such generic animals as alligators, flamingos, elephants, penguins and lions -- over and above the typical teddy bears.

Back at the Villa, they decorated the gift bags, with some residents writing personalized notes.

Jim DeCantillon wrote in character as a stuffed animals when he wrote to the teens: "I'm your new friend. Hold me safe in your arms. I hope you like me, because I love you."

Jan Welter, the teen life coordinator at the Children's Hospital, helped coordinate their visit.

"It's very nice that they do that," Welter says. "It's great that they remember the teens."