Nik Hakes and a collection point for the Compassion Closet

A UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine student has launched a new program to meet a specific need often faced by emergency department patients, particularly trauma patients.

In fall 2022, then first-year medical student Nick Hakes noticed something while shadowing in the UAB Emergency Department—the standard process for treating trauma patients includes removing their clothing, often by cutting it off, to allow first responders or physicians to quickly examine their injuries. Emergency patients’ clothes may also have been damaged or soiled due to a health event. Unless these patients have friends or family who can bring them clean clothes, they leave the hospital in thin paper scrubs.

As a medical student, Hakes was sometimes tasked with cutting a patient’s clothes off. “There have been many times when I silently apologized as I cut off their clothing,” Hakes says.

The solution that Hakes put into motion? A program called Compassion Closet, with a mission to “discharge with dignity,” exemplifying UAB Medicine’s mission of providing patient-centered care.

“Many trauma and emergency department patients are disproportionately affected by social inequalities,” Hakes says. “By advocating for the underserved with action, we can discharge every patient with dignity.”

The Compassion Closet is run out of UAB’s Emergency Department and ensures patients whose clothes have been damaged due to trauma or emergency treatment are discharged from the hospital in clean and weather-appropriate clothing. The closet features new clothing and shoes provided by community donations.

Hakes took inspiration for the Compassion Closet from personal experience. He had a hospital stay in the past, and with no family in the area to bring him a fresh set of clothes, he was discharged in thin paper scrubs, cold and “nearly naked.”

“Trauma can affect anyone, young or old, vigorous or frail, privileged or disenfranchised,” Hakes says. “No matter the circumstances, every patient deserves dignity.”

Formerly, social workers with the emergency department had a few bins of clothing they had donated themselves to provide clothing for patients in need. Now their collection has been merged with the Compassion Closet, which is expanding the effort by providing more space and organization for donations and implementing a check-out process complete with inventory tracking.

“The initial community response was so overwhelming that we created an overflow closet at the medical school,” says Hakes. “Now, the overflow closet itself is overflowing. We have been amazed by the generosity we’ve experienced.” “The Compassion Closet is needed to help the providers of the UAB Emergency Department better meet the basic needs of our patients,” says Todd Peterson, M.D., Department of Emergency Medicine physician and associate dean for Students at the Heersink School of Medicine. “Many of our patients do not have access to clean, adequate clothing to stay warm in the winter months. The Compassion Closet aims to provide these patients with replacement clothing at the time of their discharge from the Emergency Department.”

Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, director of the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, says the division is proud to sponsor the initiative by providing funding for the donation bins and closet shelving. He encourages the UAB and local community to rally around the cause and donate new clothing items.

“Many of our trauma patients have their clothing damaged during the course of their injury or care delivery process,” Kerby says. “Life is different in many challenging ways after a traumatic accident or injury, but ensuring our patients have new, clean clothes when they leave the hospital will give them one less thing to worry about as they begin their road to recovery.”

Hakes, who started at the Heersink School of Medicine in the fall 2022 semester, launched Compassion Closet with a team of other medical students: Luke Frost, Bria Gamble, Whitt Harrelson, Gracie Meyer, Anna Musulman, and Jordan Wright. (Two more medical students, Alex Savage and Cole Callahan, have since joined the team.) The students gained insight from physicians, nurses, social workers, administrators, janitors, and—most importantly—patients.

The team got buy-in from stakeholders throughout the Heersink School of Medicine, the Department of Emergency Medicine, the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Infection Prevention and Control, and Volunteer Services, who Hakes says all “jumped at the opportunity” to provide even better care for UAB patients.

“In the months the closet has been open, we have helped hundreds of patients and the number of patients benefitting from the closet is only increasing,” Hakes says. “I am blessed to be at an institution where even a medical student can recognize a need, propose a solution, and find enthusiastic support to make an impact.”

- By Allie Hulcher with contributions from Anna Musulman