By Rita McInerney, Staff Writer

ATLANTA--After Harry Potts died of cancer in 1990, members of Creative Hands at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Atlanta, have continued on with the compassionate handiwork he inspired.

Mr. Potts was a laryngectomee, a person whose voice box has been removed. Active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society at IHM, he approached a fellow Vincentian, Eleanor O’Connor in 1987, asking if creative Hands would crochet stoma covers for those who had undergone the surgery. The Creative Hands group of parish women get together every Wednesday morning at IHM to sew, crochet, knit and enjoy each other’s company.

Creative Hands members liked the idea of making these small “bibs,” crocheted covers which protect the stoma, the opening in the throat made by surgery which removes the larynx and diverts the airway to an opening made in the neck.

Altogether they have made over 1,400 stoma covers for the Greater Atlanta Voice Masters, a local self-help group of laryngectomees sponsored by the American Cancer Society. The grateful Voice Masters presented Creative Hands with a plaque of appreciation at the latter’s Christmas party last year.

Jane DelVecchio, immediate past president of the Voice Masters and president of the International Association of Laryngectomees, calls the number made by the group “a remarkable feat and one we appreciate beyond words.”

The principal makers of the stoma covers are Mercedes Ascencios, Aida de Soria and Irma Cordiviola.

Mrs. DelVecchio says her group meets monthly for support and socializing. New patients can borrow an artificial larynx instrument from the Voice Masters loan bank until the patients acquires one or learns a method of speech.

Some laryngectomees give talks at area schools about the perils of smoking. Mrs. DelVecchio, a laryngectomee since 1973 when she became active in Voice Masters, has spoken to IHM school students on this subject several times.

Making stoma covers isn’t all the women do. Their handiwork includes socks, shawls and lap robes for patients at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, and cancer pads for the terminally ill at Our lady of Perpetual Help Home in Atlanta. They make rosaries and cards for the missions, May baskets for Marian Manor residents, and roses for confirmation classes. They have also helped Crisis Pregnancy at Catholic Social Services and Birthright.

Members share their expertise, helping newcomers brush up on knitting skills, or showing them how to make squares for a cathedral-window quilt.

Madeline Sanderson, a member since the group started in 1981, has made four full-size quilts for her daughters and sews all her own clothes. Noma Williams, who joined in 1983, says Creative Hands was started so “people could get together and do their own things.”

Each woman contributes 25 cents at the Wednesday sessions. The coins add up to occasional lunch outings and holiday parties.

“We are an extended family group,” Mrs. O’Connor says. “The women keep in touch and have concern for one another. They participate in parish activities together. It’s a great support group.”

For more information on Greater Atlanta Voice Masters call Mrs. DelVecchio at (404) 373-5178.