Monday, February 6th, 2023
Good things hang in Barb's Closet
By Leslie Gartrell
Submitted Photo
The Biegel Girls, pictured front row from left, are Anita Hemmelgarn and Jane Kleinhenz. Back row from left are Ethel Kaiser, Betty Nietfeld and Ann Beyke.
COLDWATER - A group of retired nurses have created a closet for patients in need at Mercer County Community Hospital.
Barb's Closet, named in honor of the late Barb Huelsman, was created by Betty Nietfeld, Ethel Kaiser, Jane Kleinhenz, Anita Hemmelgarn and Ann Beyke, all of St. Henry.
The closet is a resource that offers clothing, basic care items and personal care items to emergency room patients, Kaiser said.
The group in addition to Huelsman formed a Bible study group in 2017 which came to be known as the Biegel Girls, she said.
As part of their group, the ladies focus their energy on a yearly Christmas donation project. Last year, the women learned of a similar effort at Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, and were inspired to start their own closet at the Coldwater hospital.
"We contacted Mercer Health and asked if they possibly had space, what we could utilize for storage," Kaiser said.
Some patients who enter the ER may be in need of clothing and other items for myriad reasons. For example, if a patient is in an accident or another medical emergency where clothing has to be quickly removed, clothing can be torn off or discarded, she said.
However, once the patient is ready to leave the hospital they have no clothes for the trip home. Barb's Closet seeks to remedy that, she said.
The closet currently offers shirts, pants, socks, underwear and flip flops in adult men's and women's sizes, Kaiser said. There is also a limited amount of youth and baby items, she said.
After Huelsman died on Sept. 17, 2021, the Biegel Girls wanted to honor her memory, Kaiser said. She described Huelsman as generous, giving person who had a loving relationship with God and a deep prayer life.
"It's just something that felt right to us," Kaiser said. "We felt this is something Barb would do. She would give of her own, and she was very generous that way.
She was just such a giving person," she continued. "We'll always miss her smile and easy manner."
The closet currently is not accepting clothing donations, she said. However, those interested in supporting Barb's Closet can make a tax deductible monetary donation via mail to the MED Foundation, 800 W. Main St., Coldwater, and designate the donation to Barb's Closet.
