Hand-painted pebbles provide comfort to patients separated from loved ones
13 May 2020
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A new initiative developed by artists Love On The Rocks and the CEO of Keech Hospice Care Liz Searle, supported by Hospice UK, is helping to comfort patients who are separated from friends and families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The idea behind ComfortPebbles2020 is that patients receive a hand decorated pebble that contains a message from a relative or friend. The pebble can stay with them and be held in their hand to comfort them now that hand holding isn’t possible. If the patient should die the pebble is returned to their family or friends to offer solace during their bereavement. They’re “something to hold when there are no hands” Liz says.
The stones are decorated by artists dedicated to painting pebbles called “Rockers”. Rockers usually paint and leave their pebbles for others to find as random acts of kindness, but current restrictions mean they have stopped doing this.
The artists leave one side of each pebble blank to be personalised later, and post boxes of pebbles to hospitals and hospices. Some artists also include pens to write the messages in the boxes. All the pebbles are varnished and can by wiped or scrubbed.
In some cases isolating family members will be invited via a phone call to give a ComfortPebble, and someone can write the dedicated message on for them.
This free scheme has so far been rolled out to 32 hospitals and hospices totalling more than 2000 pebbles, and the artists are keen to send out more.
