Pictured is Sharon, right, with Soma Gobin, left, Program Service Assistant in the Emergency Department.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Humber River Hospital frontline staff, like the Apotex Emergency Department, have been working tirelessly around the clock, picking up extra shifts and working overtime, and sacrificing their lives and family time for our patients and the community.

During the early stages of COVID-19, a grateful patient named Sharon, had been brought to the ED a few times and received excellent care from the frontline staff, despite the trying times the Hospital was going through.

As a thank you for all their hard work and dedication and sacrifice, Sharon used her talents and created over 300 handcrafted paper gifts for the entire ED, dedicating more than 100 hours to design and perfectly create them.

“It meant a lot to me personally for them to provide the care that I needed during the pandemic because I couldn’t do what they’re doing,” Sharon said. “I admire their courage and bravery for being out there and giving up their time from their families, especially during the beginning, when nobody knew what was going on. That’s why I wanted to do this for them.”

Gifts for the Emergency Department

Sharon gifted the ED staff with paper gifts that she designed and created.

Due to the lockdown, Sharon found herself at home and needed an outlet to keep herself busy. Through her love and gift for art, she decided to make the paper gifts for the ED in gratitude for their service. In fact, Sharon has been using her talent as a way of encouraging others not just in Toronto, but also in Guyana, Haiti and Lebanon through different charitable organizations.

Some of the amazing paper gifts that Sharon designed and created included bookmarks, thank you tags and unique packets containing coffee, tea, cookies and chocolates that were graciously donated from Serena N Singh-Wills & Notary, Crawford Adventist Academy, Anava Financing and more.

“I take an active and whole-hearted role in whatever I take on because I don’t believe in doing things halfway. By using my time and talents to bless others, I was able to keep my sanity during the pandemic,” she said.

Delivery Day

In March, Sharon dropped off her paper-crafted gifts to the ED. The number of packages that Sharon had delivered blew away Soma Gobin, the Program Service Assistant in the Emergency Department.

“I couldn’t believe it. For her to put in all that time and work for our Emergency Department was amazing. I certainly know our staff will be so appreciative of her gifts,” Soma said.

Jane Casey, Program Director of Emergency and the Command Centre, expressed her gratitude for Sharon’s gifts.

“It has been a long journey for all Hospital staff these past two years, but seeing that a patient hand-made these gifts for our department was lovely to see and is incredibly heartwarming,” Jane said.

Overall, giving back has always been apart of Sharon’s life and credits her parents for influencing her in that way. Sharon says that she lives by the golden rule of “do unto others what you would have them do unto you,” and hopes that others not only use their talents to give back to the Hospital, but to be a blessing in their community.

Check out Sharon’s website Rose of Sharon for more of her paper crafted pieces here.