It was a beautiful spring day for our first visit to Kravis Children’s Blau Center for Children’s Cancer and Blood Disease. We set up Hero for a Day in the clinic, to entertain patients while waiting for appointments. In the hour-long visit, we met two girls and one boy. They all chose their superhero cape and mask, and a drawstring bag to customize.
Kravis Children’s Hospital has an in-house tv station, where they create activities for all kids to participate throughout the hospital. For instance, while we were in the clinic, they hosted a bingo game. When you got a bingo, you called in to redeem a prize from the prize cabinet. It is surprisingly addictive! One of our superheroes had to leave for a checkup during the game and asked us to keep up her bingo card until she came back. We GLADLY obliged….and got caught up in the game!
We then introduced her to Mad Libs and created a hilarious story about ‘how to hatch dragon eggs,’ complete with zany instructions and silly descriptions like “apple juice dragons!”
Another little patient was so excited to come play with us that she kept trying to sneak out of her checkup. The staff kept reassuring her that she’d get to come - they just needed to finish the checkup! We love giving the kids something to look forward to! Even the mom joined in our drawstring bag coloring activity.
Our male patient turned out to be quite the expert in superhero movies, emphatically advising us on which movies were good versus boring.
We wrapped up the day leaving a few bags for other appointments later that afternoon. We’re grateful to Mt. Sinai for having us and look forward to many more visits!