{"id":421478,"date":"2026-08-02T06:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T06:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/421478\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T06:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T06:07:09","slug":"minnesota-mom-sews-comfort-items-for-burn-patients-at-fresnos-community-regional-medical-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/421478\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota mom sews comfort items for burn patients at Fresno\u2019s Community Regional Medical Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 For patients recovering from serious burn injuries in Fresno, comfort can come in an unexpected form of hand-sewn stuffed animals and scrub caps made hundreds of miles away by the mother of the burn center\u2019s medical director.<\/p>\n

Dr. Nicole Kopari, burn medical director at the Leon S. Petersburg Center, said she knew early on she wanted to go into medicine.<\/p>\n

For patients recovering from serious burn injuries in Fresno, comfort can come in an unexpected form of hand-sewn stuffed animals and scrub caps made hundreds of miles away by the mother of the burn center\u2019s medical director (FOX26).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI always knew I wanted to be a surgeon,\u201d Kopari said. <\/p>\n

She said she realized at age four that she wanted to be a doctor, and during medical school she had the chance to work with burn victims. <\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/p>\n

Dr. Nicole Kopari, burn medical director at the Leon S. Petersburg Center, said she knew early on she wanted to go into medicine (PHOTO: PHOTOJOURNALIST RONNIE GERBER).<\/p>\n

\u201cI just fell in love with, the operations and the patients,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Those patients often face long, painful recoveries, and Kopari\u2019s mother, Joyce Kopari, decided to help by sewing items for patients to keep.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Nicole) needed some scrub caps,\u201d Joyce Kopari said. \u201cI started with that, and then I started making these scrub caps for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The items are given to patients of all ages, not just children (PHOTO: PHOTOJOURNALIST RONNIE GERBER).<\/p>\n

In Dr. Kopari\u2019s office, cabinets are filled with different stuffed animals and scrub caps, all hand-sewn by her mother. <\/p>\n

Joyce Kopari said the goal is to provide comfort and remind patients that someone cares.<\/p>\n

She attended a group of survivors when her daughter was in New Orleans, and it inspired her to keep making the items. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s something special I can do for them, and then they kept it. So, yeah, it’s important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kopari said the stuffed animals can help patients through what may be the most terrible moments of their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith burn surgery, that’s the thing is probably the worst day of that person’s life,\u201d she said. \u201cSo something that they can have to comfort them is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The items are given to patients of all ages, not just children. <\/p>\n

Dr. Kopari said she tries to create a connection between what she wears and what she gives to patients.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kopari said she tries to create a connection between what she wears and what she gives to patients (PHOTO: PHOTOJOURNALIST RONNIE GERBER).<\/p>\n

\u201cI always try to match the scrub cap to my scrub cap to the puppy or to the giraffe or whatever they get,” she said.<\/p>\n

For Joyce Kopari, seeing the impact from Minnesota is personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to me. Once in a while she’ll send a picture home, and then she gave it to him, and oh, it just makes my heart feel so good to see all the kids like them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said she has no plans to stop and wants patients to understand the care behind each item.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d like them to know that their animal was made with love, and I hope it brings them a great deal of comfort. And if they ever get a hole or anything, just call me and I’ll fix it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

General tips for what to do immediately after a burn: <\/p>\n

Stop the burning process by removing clothing or an article of clothing from the affected area, then cool the burn. For really large burns, it is recommended not to submerge in really cold waterFor a smaller burn it is okay to run it under cool water.Get the burn checked out by a professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 For patients recovering from serious burn injuries in Fresno, comfort can come in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-421478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}