The new Care Closet recently opened at Soin Medical Center after the first Care Closet, located at Kettering Health Main Campus, opened earlier this month.
“As it got colder, we noticed patients coming in without the resources they needed,” said Jessica Schwab, an oncology radiologist at Kettering Health.
Schwab, along with Zach Gregus and Crystal Bullock, both oncology radiologists at Kettering Health, founded Coats for a Cure after they noticed many patients were coming in for medical appointments without proper winter clothing.
“Even though we’re treating the physical body, we have a responsibility to treat the whole person. If it’s minus 10 degrees outside, we’re not sending someone out in a T-shirt,” Schwab said.
Coats for a Cure hopes to have Care Closets established in hospitals across the Miami Valley.
Each closet is stocked with warm clothing that hospital staff can access immediately for any patient facing hardship. Items include coats, blankets, hats, gloves, scarves, warming kits and other needed essentials.
“By welcoming this ministry into our hospital, we are living out the mission of Kettering Health — to live God’s love by promoting and restoring health, dignity and hope," Paul Hoover, president of Soin Medical Center and Kettering Health Greene Memorial, said on social media.
Visitors to Soin Medical Center, 3535 Pentagon Blvd. in Beavercreek, can donate new or gently used winter clothing. Monetary donations can be made on the Coats for a Cure online donation portal at coatsforacure.org/donate-2. All funds go toward restocking and creating new closets.
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