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Pediatric trick or treat

Posted at 5:35 PM, Oct 31, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-31 18:35:57-04

Each year Nebraska Medicine staff makes sure no child stuck in the hospital feels left out on Halloween.

 

They throw a Pediatric Trick or Treat Parade to give children a chance to have fun.

 

Some of the illnesses those children are facing keeps them from being able to go from door to door to trick or treat, and a lot of them can’t even have candy.

“It kind of brings some normalcy in their environment which is different from normal, but it's our normal, and it makes a lot of fun for not only the parents, but the kids too I’m sure," said Renalda Walker.

Jackson Hudson has Microvillus Inclusion Disease.

His mom says he was diagnosed with it at birth, so Jackson is spending his Halloween in the hospital.

"This gives him the opportunity to go out and see other kids who are having other illnesses participate and have fun," Walker said.

 

"We just like to provide normal things for the kids to do, and so when they are inpatients at the hospital they miss out on the holiday activities,” said Child Life Specialist Debbie Barrier.

 

Barrier says a lot of these children can’t have sweets so they hand out other prizes for them to enjoy from their hospital rooms.

 

"We think safety first so we may have play dough, bubbles, coloring books and pencils," Barrier said.

 

 A big treat for kids who will have to skip the door knocks tonight.

 

"It's really hard for them to be able to go trick or treating all of the time because of immunosuppression, and so this provides a safe place for them to be able to go and trick or treat," Barrier said.

 

For the children too sick to leave their rooms, staff personally brings them prizes to their rooms.