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Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 11:01 am
by Deadeye
So I have a friend that's a doctor (head of something or other) at Children's Hospital in Detroit to whom I recently proposed setting up some sort of "regular" troops for their patients. She put me in touch with their Child Life Projects Specialist to see what we could do. I've trooped the children's wing at Beaumont as well as at Children's and was expecting that we could set up something similar with a group of 5-8 troopers going room to room visiting whichever kids wanted us to come in. Those were some really rewarding events. I was hoping we could do this every month or two.

After speaking with their representative a little bit, she's suggested that they're not allowed to do what we've done in the past due to privacy laws and possibility of germs and such and proposed something else. She suggested we could bring in two or maybe two-plus-droid troopers to their common area and let the kids that want to come do a meet-and-greet. The visit would last maybe an hour--give or take. Not sure what time of day they would propose. If we're interested, we can work together to identify a date and time and she will get me a list of their requirements (can't talk to the kids about why they're there was one).

I admit I'm disappointed with that proposal. While I'm sure it's still rewarding to see the kids that show up, it seems like you're likely to miss kids that really want to come but aren't able for a variety of reasons. It also seems to lack a lot of the surprise and spontaneity that makes the room to room visit so fun for the kids (and their parents) and you won't get much time to visit/chat with anyone. I'd already asked a couple people if they would want to troop the hospital but this was before I'd heard the details from DMC. Now I'm unsure how much interest there may be with this new approach.

So I figured I'd throw it out there to everyone. Who's interested? If there's interest, I'll continue pushing forward with DMC. If I don't hear too much, I'll suggest to them that we may circle back to them at a later time. I understand it's all dependent on the date and time--I'm just looking for who likes the parameters for the visit.

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:36 pm
by Muppet-Trooper
Back in 2014 a group us attended the DMC, along with Star Wars author Tom Angleberger. It worked really well, we were in a classroom/library area and the kids could come up to us for photos etc.

I must admit having the children coming to us at hospitals is sometimes easier, as we invariably sometimes spend ages walking around the wards and rooms, with not all children/parents wanting Star Wars characters in their room! More often than not, it's the hospital staff who are more excited to see us, and we're not really there for them!

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 3:32 pm
by master miller
Of course depends on day and time but I'm in

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:50 pm
by Zarlon
I would be interested.

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 12:09 am
by ShermiesRule
I might be interested but I'd prefer a larger group of characters

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 9:23 am
by Conner
I’d be interested.

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 8:15 pm
by Obi-Ron
Funny, I was just going to post a question about how to get involved with this. I was just recently approved as a TK, and one thing I've been looking forward to the most is these types of visits. I am definitely interested if you are in need of a TK Stunt. Let me know - thanks!

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:09 am
by Deadeye
So I totally dropped the ball on this over the holidays but finally blew the dust off the other day. I talked to the rep, she was hoping to come up with a weekday morning event where she could get preferably two characters to do a meet and greet with patients. Weekday morning would be bad for me so I'm likely out but if there are people that can do it I can pass along an e-mail address and put you in contact with her.

Let me know who's in!

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:53 am
by Ripcode
Lord Dark Helmet wrote:So I totally dropped the ball on this over the holidays but finally blew the dust off the other day. I talked to the rep, she was hoping to come up with a weekday morning event where she could get preferably two characters to do a meet and greet with patients. Weekday morning would be bad for me so I'm likely out but if there are people that can do it I can pass along an e-mail address and put you in contact with her.

Let me know who's in!
Please get more information and then create an event thread.

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:58 am
by Deadeye
Ripcode wrote:Please get more information and then create an event thread.
I was hoping to find a day and time when two people were available and interested rather than creating an event that no one will reply to. I've provided the information I've got so far from the hospital and there was interest in the idea but I assume with DMC's desire to have it on a weekday morning that interest may not translate into volunteers.

Re: Visting DMC Children's Hospital

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:08 pm
by Zarlon
Lord Dark Helmet wrote:
Ripcode wrote:Please get more information and then create an event thread.
I was hoping to find a day and time when two people were available and interested rather than creating an event that no one will reply to. I've provided the information I've got so far from the hospital and there was interest in the idea but I assume with DMC's desire to have it on a weekday morning that interest may not translate into volunteers.

I just sent you a FB message. Akiyo and I should be above to take a morning off to do it.