A train of another name

BARRINGTON – Thanking Advocate Good Shepherd for years of family health care, Barrington’s famous “train lady,” Elaine Silets, donated a special daisy train to the local hospital Jan. 9.

Silets, president of Huff and Puff Industries Ltd., took over the project for the hospital three months prior to its January unveiling ceremony when a friend of the hospital dropped off the cardboard model train cart at her doorstep.

“How could I say no?” Silets said, referring to the unique assignment.

The older, cardboard train-card had long been a symbol of the DAISY Foundation – an organization created to honor extraordinary nurses and their compassionate work. The train cart is used to bring flowers to nurses during the time of their DAISY recognition, but as hospital staff found, it needed much work.

“It was a bit in disrepair,” said Good Shepherd Spokeswoman Ro Ostergaard.

Silets, a North Barrington resident and now internationally renowned designer and manufacturer of model railroads and garden railways – or the local “train lady” – is well known for opening her private model railroad gardens of 10 acres to the public once a year for charity.

The at-home spectacle consists of 6,000 square feet of waterfalls, streams, lakes, bridges, forestry and miniature cities. All proceeds benefit the Harvey M. Silets Memorial Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to students attending arts camp in Interlochen, Mich.

Silets’ said the camp is her late husband Harvey’s “favorite place on Earth.” Harvey received years of care at Good Shepherd for stage four colorectal cancer before he died in 2007 – making the daisy train donation extra special.

“I am so grateful for the wonderful care my family has received at this hospital,” Silets said, explaining that Harvey came to Good Shepherd after being misdiagnosed at another hospital for several years.

Knowing the train cart’s original purpose, Silets was sure to include a vase at the front of the new daisy train. Good Shepherd President Karen Lambert thanked Elaine and spoke about the importance of the DAISY program.

“You’ve allowed our nurses to truly honor their colleagues in a fashion that we have never dreamed of,” Lambert said.

DAISY, an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System, was formed in November 1999 by the family of J.P. Barnes, who died at the age of 33. Barnes’ parents established the foundation in their son’s memory because of their gratitude toward his nurses. The Daisy award is given quarterly to deserving nurses in more than 315 hospitals nationwide.

Ostergaard said the award helps ensure that nurses know how deserving they are of society’s respect, for their education, training, brainpower and skill, as well as for the compassionate way they deliver care.

Through the design, engineering, manufacturing and final installation and certification of each train Silets makes, she has developed her miniature railroads into a form of art. For information, visit www.daisyfoundation.org or www.trainlady.com.