Taking care of our elderly and disabled family members is a fulfilling experience. We get to help them with their daily needs and assist them with basic movements. However, there are times when they experience mealtime mishaps.
This nurse designed dignity bibs to provide dignity to the wearer for eating meals.
Paige Meyer is a young nurse from Victoria, Australia who is helping adults and people with disabilities keep their dignity intact by sewing dignity bibs that look like regular clothing. Paige never liked the ugly and vinyl bibs since it’s associated with babies. As a nurse, Paige felt like putting the bibs on her elderly patients was humiliating, even though they don’t say it.
She understood her patients because she watched her grandmother deteriorate with dementia and emphysema. As someone who had a loved one, she understood how difficult it was for family members to see their loved one struggling. No one wants to see their dear parents or grandparents feel embarrassed.
Paige was set on creating a solution to this common concern.
Having rediscovered her love for sewing, Page was finally able to create a plan!
She created dignity bibs that look like regular clothing. These dignity bibs do the same job as a regular bib, but it won’t put the person wearing it in an embarrassing situation. Anyone who uses it will be happy to eat their meals in peace.
In 2021, she took up the challenge of making 50 dignity bibs a month and donating it to the local nursing homes and special schools.
“Dignity bibs are designed to protect clothing from mealtime mishaps while providing dignity by not looking like a bib,” Paide said to The Courier.
“Our dignity bibs are designed and made by a nurse to help ease of use by both consumer and nurse. As a nurse, my aim is to promote dignity to all of my patients and believe this is just one way I can help.”
Inspired by Paige, her mom and sister also helped her in creating them.
Paige also revealed that she saw a pattern for the dignity bibs online and modified it. What she did was to transform button-up shirts into bibs that look just like regular clothing
“They use the front panel of a button-up shirt and once placed on top of the clothing, they just look like clothing. It’s less confronting for the family as well because it looks like normal clothes,”Paige explained.
There are several versions of the dignity bib available online. One of the most famous ones are from an etsy shop called Fabric Greetings. The pattern has a 4-star rating and glowing 200 reviews. Based on the store, the design came to be when they had a friend with the same problem.
“This bib was designed for a friend who had that same problem. He now shows up to dinner with one of his dignity bibs in hand. One of the nice things about these bibs is that each bib comes with a pocket – sometimes two. Great place to store your hankie or medicine container.”
Dignity bibs are also easy to use and wash!
Simply wrap it around the user’s neck and connect the straps with a Velcro strip. you can easily wash it too like regular clothing. These dignity bibs help protect people from making a mess during meal times.
It’s a good alternative for the bibs sold in the market.
If you have a loved one or friend who need a dignity bib, give them one. It will surely light up their day!
Help Paige Meyer make more dignity bibs by donating to her GoFundMe.
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