The Los Angeles Chapter enjoyed its first visit to Miller Children's Hospital. We hosted 2 girls and 1 boy in the playroom. We made gift bags and did bedside visits for 1 girl and 8 boys.
The first girl (age around 5) in the playroom was ecstatic we were there and so excited to get made up and be crowned. She was full of energy and wanted to apply her own makeup. She was going down the hallway showing everyone her crown and sharing her pride that she did her own makeup. She spent the rest of the time coloring her gift bag with the markers and making a picture frame.
The second girl (age around 4) was very shy and wasn't sure what to make of it all. She slowly started to warm up after a while. She picked out some makeup and went onto a separate table with her mother and put makeup on and started to smile and laugh. The main ChildLife Specialist said it was the most animated and joyful she had seen since arriving to the hospital.
The boy (age around 6) became Spider-Man and wanted someone to play video games with. I am grateful one of my volunteers knew how to play x-box and playstation. The boy was trilled to have someone that was good enough to play with him. They played for almost 2 hours together and he was on such high spirits from our visit. When the playroom was closing he got on his big wheel and raced down the hall with his cape flapping in the wind. He smiled and thanked us all.
We made 9 gift bags for each of the bedside visits with their names on the bags.
The ChildLife specialist told us the one girl in isolation (age 4-5) favorite color was pink. So we put pink nail polish, pink lip gloss, and pink blush/eyeshadow and a tiara in a gift bag. No one was allowed in her room so staff dropped it off to her and her mother helped her do her makeup. We later stopped by and visited her when she had finished. She kept saying “thank you” over and over again to us as she smiled and waved to us as we stood in the hallway.
We visited 9 boys in their room ranging from 20 months to 16 years old. Many of the boys were new to the hospital and overwhelmed with all the staff and doctors and did not want to come to the playroom. Several of the boys were open to us coming in their room and smiled when they realized it was a superhero cape and mask. We also left Mad Libs for the two teenagers. One boy was sleeping and we left a bag for staff to give him later. They were all grateful we came and for the gift bags. The event lasted 2 hours.
