A group of La Quinta High School students have created a unique way to earn community service hours. They knit or crochet independently and collaboratively. Their current project are hats for newborns.
Three of the students recently presented a basket of the hats to JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio.
Mahonale Waters, the mother, was kind enough to introduce her daughter Mia, born that morning, to the children and selected a hat for the little girl. Mia’s sisters attend Herbert Hoover Elementary School and Thomas Jefferson Middle School, so in a few short years she, too, will be a Desert Sands Unified School District student. The club will continue making the infant hats and is looking to also begin work on baby blankets.
Presenting the hats were 10th graders Katie Fisher, Lizbeth Luevano, and Sammy Merabet. All three are full Internationl Baccalaureate Diploma students with plans to major in a medical field.
Katie plans on majoring in biochemistry, Lizbeth hopes to be a veterinarian, and Sammy looks to combine his interest in medicine with an affinity for technology. Looking to complete 300 hours of community service each, the students were quick to point out that each hat takes approximately three hours to complete.
Each year, about 3,000 new lives join the “Born at JFK” community.
JFK Memorial Hospital has provided medical care to residents in the Coachella Valley since 1966.
Originally called Indio Community Hospital, JFK has grown to a 145-bed acute-care hospital that is part of Tenet Healthcare California. It offers a variety of services, including:
- Emergency care 24/7
- Orthopedic and joint replacement services using emerging technology
- Cardiovascular services
- Maternity care and pediatric services
- Ambulatory surgery center
- Imaging services
- Outpatient Rehabilitation Center
JFK is fully accredited by The Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency, and has received several prestigious healthcare awards.
