A student-run card project · Boston

Your words, handmade into cards for the people in hospital beds and the people caring for them.

Send a few kind sentences. I copy each one by hand onto a card I make myself, then deliver it to hospitals around Boston for patients, nurses, doctors, techs, and staff.

Write a note What to write

For a nurse on night shift

You probably won't remember my name, but I'll never forget how you held my hand at 3am. Thank you for the work nobody sees.

— Maya, Newton

Bedside NotesHandmade in Chestnut Hill

How it works

From your keyboard to a bedside, in three steps.

You write
Leave a short note below for a patient, a healthcare worker, or whoever needs it most. It takes two minutes.
I make the card
Each note is hand-lettered onto a card I fold, decorate, and sign off with your first name and town, if you share them.
It gets delivered
Cards go to Boston-area hospitals through their volunteer and patient-experience offices, who pass them to units and staff.

Write a note

Say the thing you'd want to hear.

Your note is read only by me. Patients' names are never shared, and cards carry just your first name and town.

For a patient

Start typing and your card will appear here.

— a friend

Bedside NotesHandmade in Chestnut Hill

Live preview of your card

Writing guidelines

Warm, simple, and about them.

Hospital staff read every card before it reaches a unit. Notes that follow these go out fastest.

Please do

Write as if to a stranger you wish well.
Thank healthcare workers for something specific: long shifts, patience, small kindnesses.
Share something light: a favorite season, a joke, what you're looking forward to.
Keep it to a few sentences.

Please avoid

“Get well soon” or anything that assumes recovery. Some patients won't.
Medical advice, diagnoses, or comments about illness.
Phone numbers, emails, social handles, or full last names.
Politics, strongly religious messages, or anything you wouldn't say to a stranger's grandmother.

For a patientHospital days can feel really long. I hope today has at least one good cup of tea in it.

For a nurseTwelve hours on your feet and you still remembered someone's name. That matters more than you know.

Whoever needs itSomeone in Boston is thinking about you right now. That someone is me. Hi!

About

Meet Catherine

Catherine Wang, smiling at a table by a window in Boston

Hi, I'm Catherine Wang, a sophomore nursing student at Boston College. I started Bedside Notes because so many people want to encourage patients and the nurses, doctors and staff who care for them, but don't know how to reach them.

That's where you come in. You write the words, and I turn each one into a card I make by hand. Then I bring them in batches to hospitals and care facilities around Boston, working with each hospital's volunteer office.

Every card carries a real message from a real person, and I hope yours makes someone's day a little lighter.

Want to help make cards, or have your class or club write a batch? Leave a note above that says so, and I'll reach out.