- College of Medicine Students
College of Medicine students are helping hospitalized children get a little bit of normal life – including a recent Trick or Treat Event that brought sweets and fun to youngsters being treated at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Lake Nona.
The student Pediatric Interest Group (called PIG for short) has been sponsoring monthly events at Nemours that include activities, games, arts and crafts and even a recent origami lesson. For Halloween, PIG members, with “tons” of donated candy from COM faculty, staff and students, set up trick or treat stations at the hospital with various Nemours departments. For children who could not leave their hospital rooms, costumed medical students and a faculty and staff member dressed as Mary Poppins and a chimney sweep delivered candy to the rooms.
Second-year M.D. student Jackie Babb, who helped organize the event, said the medical school’s future pediatricians marvel at the resilience of the hospitalized children, some of whom suffer from stereotypical “adult” conditions like cancer and heart disease.
“I feel like pediatrics is always a heart wrencher,” she said. “But the spirit that’s within these kids is so remarkable. Our goal with these visits is to take children out of what has become their normal and help them come through it.”