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St. Francis hosts Christmas party for pediatric patients

Posted at 3:13 AM, Dec 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-15 04:13:06-05

TULSA -- St. Francis Children's Hospital spread Christmas cheer to their pediatric patients on Thursday afternoon. 

The hospital hosted a Christmas party in their main lobby. 

At the party, children were able to decorate cookies and ornaments, take pictures with Santa and various characters and spend time with therapy dogs dressed up for the occasion. 

The party was a way to break up the monotony of being in the hospital. 

"It gets boring and it gets so tiring that you just want to go home," Jessica Soap, an 11-year old with Cystic Fibrosis, said. 

Soap has been in the hospital for a week. She spent Christmas of 2016 at St. Francis. 

The party was not filled with hospital patients, rather smiling kids. 

"Our kids are able to heal not only with their physical needs, some of these kids we need them up and walking so this gives them a chance to come out of their room and do something normal," Kelly Kemp, a child life specialist at the hospital, said. 

Kemp said watching the children's smiling faces is like "watching a miracle happen." 

For the patients who could not make it down, activities and characters made their way into the kids' rooms to spread some cheer. 

"They really go out of their way to make each and every child here feel special," Kemp said about St. Francis Hospital. 

Soap said she loved getting to see the other people who were in the hospital with her.

"You get to realize that the hospital is more than just like sickness," Soap said. 

 

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