Kindergartners brighten hospital with decorated pumpkins

Heather Cory

The Meadows kindergartners Mia Spilotro, center, and Ariana Sanatinia, right, give Dylan Aseph, left, a clown pumpkin during their visit to the UMC pediatric intensive care unit on Wednesday.

By Ashley Livingston (contact)

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | midnight

Armed with colorfully painted pumpkins with construction paper hair and straw, paper and felt hats, the Meadows School kindergartners made their way to University Medical Center's Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit and Pediatrics Department on Wednesday to fulfill the school's annual mission of brightening the day of both patients and staff alike.

Event organizer at the hospital, Dr. Meena Vohra, said the pumpkin-giving tradition began when her daughter, who is now a junior in college, was in Meadows kindergarten teacher Linda Verbon's kindergarten class 16 years ago.

The visit has since become an event that everyone in the hospital looks forward to.

The students enjoy it too, she said, they feel good about giving something.

Two by two the students visited rooms of children who won't get a chance to don a costume or trick or treat this year.

As Ainsley Wilson, 5, and her fellow classmate Nebiyu Samuel, 5, handed over their scarecrow pumpkin to a young patient, they wished him a happy holiday.

Hospital Clinical Manager Cynthia Jones said the children's visit is definitely something that helps bring the light of the holiday to the children's floor.

The decorated pumpkins are something the patients can put at their bedsides to light up their area and make it look a little less like a hospital room, she said.

Verbon, organizer of the event on the school's end, said the students learn from the visit that not everyone is able to share in the traditional holiday experience.

"It shows them the importance of caring about others and trying to make them happy," she said.

Gabriel Armijo, whose child is a patient at the hospital, said he was excited to see the students doing something nice.

Five-year-olds Ariana Sanatinia and Mia Spilotro smiled as they left the room of the patient to whom they gave their pumpkin.

"We made a clown," Ariana said. "We wanted to do the curling (of the construction paper hair)," Mia said.

Verbon said the pumpkins were made in stages during class time, first painted and then later decorated with construction paper hair and hats.

"Every piece is made with love," she said. "Every piece (of construction paper) is cut by the children — every corner rounded off and every hair curled."

Once all of the pumpkins were distributed, the children lined up to perform for all of the staff behind the nurses' station.

Stomping, knocking, spinning and stirring, the students sang, danced and acted out the words to a couple of Halloween songs.

While the staff smiled, laughed and snapped photos, patient Dylan Aseph, 8, watched the song and choreographed dance from the doorway of his room.

He said his gifted pumpkin would be placed next to the pumpkin he had decorated during craft hour the day before.

When each song was sung and each dance done, the nurses rewarded the children's time and generosity with Halloween goodie bags to take home.

"They were adorable. They totally brightened up my holiday," said nurse Trisha Briones.

Ashley Livingston can be reached at 990-8925 or ashley.livingston@hbcpub.com.