Superheroes in Cork University Hospital! – By Aoife James
Community outreach is a big part of our ethos here at Celebs Entertainment. If there’s any way at all we can use our resources for the greater good, you bet we’ll make it happen!
The children’s ward staff at Cork University Hospital hold a special place in my heart; my little brother spent some time in the Puffin Ward in 2017, and the care they took of him was unparalleled. As a person who spent a great deal of my childhood in hospitals for treatment and surgeries, I know all too well how a pick-me-up is certainly needed every once in a while. That’s when the idea occurred to us…
Part of Celebs work involves reaching out to our good friends in the superhero world for our range of family events and children’s parties we cater for. In the lead-up to Christmas, the hospital was delighted to receive many kinds of donations of toys to hand out as Christmas gifts, and Rachel (Play Co-Ordinator) had the perfect people in mind to deliver these gifts.
On the 15th of December, We arrived at the hospital with our first two heroes: Ghost-Spider and Scarlett Witch. We met with Rachel at reception and went straight to the wards to get our toy cart ready. The Superheroes then began the rounds of the inpatient and outpatient wards of Puffin and Seahorse, handing out toys and seeing who was interested in joining The Avengers! All the kids were super excited to meet our superheroes and get their Christmas presents, particularly their new little friend Troy who broke out his best web shooter pose with Ghost-Spider and asked her to say hi to Spider-Man for his little brother. Nothing could beat seeing all those smiles, and We were beyond excited to do it all again!
On the 20th, our next two heroes kindly took time out of their busy schedules to save the world to stop by Spider-Man and Batman. But that wasn’t all… Santa Clause heard we’d be in CUH, and since he’s such a close friend of Celebs Entertainment, he kindly offered to come along too! We began the rounds of inpatient and outpatient wards once again, this time also stopping by the Ladybird ward to visit our youngest patients. The kids were all ecstatic once again, and lots of photos were taken for them to show their school friends they met Batman and Spider-Man! Santa even sang a bunch of holiday favourites in each ward we visited, getting guitar accompaniment from a nurse on the ward. Our friend Troy was still in the hospital, so we made sure to visit him again so he could pass on his message to Spider-Man!
It was amazing to see the reactions of kids from babies to teenagers when our heroes walked through the door with gifts specially picked out for each of them. Even patients in the adult wards got a good laugh when they saw us walk by! We left CUH knowing we gave them all incredible memories and alleviated tough situations even the smallest bit. We can’t wait to come back soon!
