Once a year cartoon characters, fairy princesses and action heroes gather at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as hundreds of employees work together to turn the hospital into a giant trick-or-treat trail for children battling cancer and other catastrophic diseases. The event spans buildings and floors throughout the campus in Memphis, Tenn.

The Halloween celebration is organized by the Child Life Program as a means to provide children undergoing treatment a bit of normalcy in otherwise difficult circumstances. Hospitalization and treatment are arduous for children and their families, and being away from home means missing out on special events.

“The Halloween festivities allow patients to enjoy the holiday as they would at home,” said Cara Sisk, a child life specialist at St. Jude.

The Halloween event has grown exponentially each year with everyone from nurses to bench scientists to office personnel setting up trick-or-treat stands for the kids. It’s a task taken seriously as employees select themes to decorate their booths and begin planning months in advance, working after hours and throughout lunch to design their trick-or-treat stops.

The event encourages teamwork, camaraderie and creativity as staff collaborate to outdo the previous year’s efforts. Friendly competition among departments is part of the fun, with prizes awarded for best decorations and costumes as well as most child-friendly theme.

On the day of the event, patients and their siblings dress in costumes and meet in the hospital’s main lobby. Armed with goodie bags and maps of the more than 50 Halloween stops, the children begin their adventure. For patients who cannot leave their beds, the fun comes to them as departments send their costumed characters room-to-room for reverse trick-or-treating.

“It is the one event each year that allows all hospital programs and departments to participate in a fun day with the patients and families, making it a morale boosting event for staff as well.” Sisk said.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Ranked the No. 1 pediatric cancer hospital by Parents magazine and the No. 1 children’s cancer hospital by U.S. News & World Report, St. Jude is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world, serving as a trusted resource for physicians and researchers. St. Jude has developed research protocols that helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened to almost 80 percent today. St. Jude is the national coordinating center for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. In addition to pediatric cancer research, St. Jude is also a leader in sickle cell disease research and is a globally prominent research center for influenza.

Founded in 1962 by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world, publishing more research articles than any other pediatric cancer research center in the United States. St. Jude treats more than 5,700 patients each year and is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. St. Jude is financially supported by thousands of individual donors, organizations and corporations without which the hospital’s work would not be possible. In 2010, St. Jude was ranked the most trusted charity in the nation in a public survey conducted by Harris Interactive, a highly respected international polling and research firm. For more information, go to http://www.stjude.org.

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Source:  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital