UPenn hospital program PennHOPES allows doctors to purchase small gifts for patients

Noor Shaik rushed to the bedside of a patient with severe diabetes complications who had remained optimistic during surgery for a foot infection.

The woman was now crying uncontrollably, but not because of the pain from her surgery that morning. The reason for her outburst was that her only hairband had been lost in the operating room.

And the wild curls that she couldn’t keep out of her face were a turning point.

Shaik, a third-year neurology resident at Penn, sneaked out on her break and came back with a $3 pack of hair ties.

“Now she was crying with joy,” Shaik recalled. “Three dollars at Target made her feel valued and appreciated.”

The interaction was so meaningful to Shaik that she suggested creating a program that would allow healthcare providers to bill for small things that help patients feel more comfortable during their hospital stay. The initiative, called PennHOPES, has been so popular with patients and providers at HUP that Penn is now expanding it to Pennsylvania Hospital and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

“My intention was to help patients, but seeing the response from providers has been very heartwarming,” Shaik said. “These small, meaningful moments also help us reconnect with the reason we went into medicine – to help people.”

Cookies, slippers, a stuffed goat

PennHOPES was funded with $5,000 last August and has so far given out about $2,500 on 70 gifts.

Through the program, providers can request an Amazon gift card to purchase a pick-me-up or helpful item for a patient who must stay in the hospital for at least five days. Gifts must be valued at less than $50 and cannot be related to care. PennHOPES receives one or two requests per week.

Gifts included cookies for a patient who spent his birthday in a hospital bed, reading glasses and a book for a patient who didn’t like watching TV in his room, and a shaving kit for a patient whose beard got caught in his face mask.

The oncology department ordered fluffy slippers for a patient who was unable to walk after cancer treatment due to a burning sensation in her feet.

A plush goat toy donated through the program comforted a young patient with epilepsy and developmental disabilities whose hospital bed was conspicuously missing the many stuffed animals she slept next to at home.

“She held the goat all night,” Shaik said.

Small gift, big smile

Small comfort items can make a big difference for patients like Mary Houston who must stay in the hospital for long periods due to complex medical problems.

Houston, 49, of Wilmington, spent two weeks in HUP’s epilepsy monitoring unit in March. It was her third stay in recent months, but she was still trying to understand the epilepsy she was diagnosed with at age 47.

Since suffering a grand mal seizure in 2022, she had to quit her job as clinical operations manager for Penn’s living donor program, was unable to drive, and had tried several different medications. At her worst, Houston suffered multiple seizures a day.

Houston had been in the hospital for nearly two weeks when someone tossed a velvety soft blanket into her lap, a gift from her care team who knew how much she loved to curl up.

“I was actually smiling – and I had 13 probes surgically implanted into my brain,” Houston said.

Doctors ultimately recommended a temporal lobectomy, a procedure to remove part of the brain that contributes to the seizures.

Houston underwent the procedure in May and has been at home since then, recovering and waiting to see if the procedure relieves her symptoms.

Penn’s shimmering gray blanket often rests on her lap as she solves word puzzles to exercise her mind — at least if her rescued Catahoula leopard dog, Luna, doesn’t get to it first.