On the holiday, UCLA staff set up different booths and dressed up in a number of costumes for patients, with patients being able to take part in trick-or-treating in their own garb. The hospital’s main garden turned into a Halloween hangout for the children and staff alike.
"It’s really great to see all the different departments come out and set stuff up and plan ahead and prepare for the kids," UCLA Pediatrics Unit Director Amy Goldberg said. "The kids really enjoy [it], they look forward to coming down. We’ve been preparing them all week so that they can be ready and excited for today, and [we] love having them all here to do this."
Goldberg added that the day serves as a "morale booster" for the costumed staff, with popular outfits for this year including the emotions of Disney’s "Inside Out" film and the wizards of Harry Potter. More importantly, though, the patients were able to feel "normal for a day," Chief Medical Officer Philip Levin said.
"It allows for the kids who are in the hospital to kind of feel like they’re still part of Halloween … you can see how many people love getting involved and excited to come and be something different," Levin added.
For children not able to come down and join the festivities, costumed staff went to them with a "reverse trick-or-treating" bedside.
The long-running Halloween event has inspired other endeavors such as a toy delivery from Santa during the holidays, as well as visits from the animals of UCLA Health’s People-Animal Connection (PAC) on Valentine’s Day.
UCLA’s PAC initiative is designed to provide companionship to both children patients and adults in the building, with dogs coming for Halloween in underwater-themed outfits. PAC teams also make monthly visits to Santa Monica on the last Tuesday of each month, bringing along both dogs and a miniature therapy horse.
"Everybody loves them," Levin said of the dogs. "Our pediatric patients really support [them], our adult patients, everybody. Our staff also love the dogs, especially during [the COVID-19 pandemic] when people were so stressed, having some pets come by really kind of alleviated the stress for the staff members."
For more information on the PAC initiative, visit uclahealth.org/programs/pac.
thomas@smdp.com
