Santa Claus Pays Cheery Visit to Cedars-Sinai Patients
Donned in his velvety red suit, shiny black boots, pom-pom-adorned hat and snowy beard, Santa Claus brought holiday cheer to pediatric patients and their families at Cedars-Sinai ahead of the upcoming holiday.
For the third consecutive year, Santa (secretly played by David Marshall, JD, DNP, RN, chief nursing executive and vice president of Nursing at Cedars-Sinai), visited patients in the Pediatrics and Neonatal Intensive Care units.
He also visited young patients and their parents in Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s, a new pediatric facility that offers highly specialized care for children in a welcoming setting with cheerfully painted walls, a playroom and interactive-art installations featuring whimsical characters.
“When I came to Cedars-Sinai, they told me I would have big shoes to fill,” Santa said. “Little did I know they would be big-buckled boots.”
Joined by nurses and child life specialists, Santa surprised patients with stuffed animals, courtesy of the Owie BowWowie Foundation, and gingerbread house kits. Parents of newborns received ornaments of their baby’s footprints and posed for pictures with the jolly visitor.
“This is a very festive and fun experience for us in a not-so-fun situation,” said first-time mom, Juliette Spinner. Her daughter, Everson, celebrated her one-month birthday today in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Santa said it’s a privilege to spread joy to patients and their families especially “seeing their eyes light up and grins spread across their faces as I give them my best and merriest ‘ho ho ho!’”
“I’m honored to be a part of those memories of such an important moment in the lives of these families,” he said.
Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Generations Ahead
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