Posted by Emily Shamash on July 29, 2020
Ella and I want to thank you all for your incredible response to our first blog post where we introduced the IV Sweatshirt Project! If you haven’t read our story yet, we encourage you to start there – in it we share about Ella’s diagnosis with Crohn’s disease, our journey to find a treatment that worked for her, and how her experience ultimately led us to create something together to help kids like her stay warm and comfortable while getting infusions.
After a few trials and some delays due to COVID-19, we are excited to share that we have received a solid prototype of our IV sweatshirt design and have been able to test it at our infusion center!
“I have been able to use the first IV sweatshirt prototype and it has proven to be a success for me during my infusions. It is comfortable and efficient, while not getting in the way of the medical process. I can’t believe my vision has become a reality and I can’t wait to be able to offer this experience to others!” – Ella
Currently, we are eagerly awaiting a shipment of a variety of IV sweatshirts, which we plan to distribute to other patients receiving infusions at our center. Our plan is to have patients test our prototype during their infusions, then complete a survey so we can learn from them. Some of our survey questions include:
💚 Age of patient
💙 Rate comfort 1-10
💚 Anything you would add to make it easier to use?
💙 Anything you would change about this sweatshirt?
💚 Would you wear this sweatshirt again?
💙 Would you purchase one online or in a store?
💚 Please provide any additional comments about your experience with the IV sweatshirt
Ella and I both want to extend our sincere gratitude to ImproveCareNow and to Yale-New Haven Hospital Pediatric Infusion Centers for their ongoing support of our IV Sweatshirt Project. We could not do this without your support! We are better when we work together and we have witnessed, first hand, how critical collaboration has been to the success of this project.
We cannot wait to share the IV sweatshirt with even more patients!
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