Former patient starts a movie drive for the pediatrics unit
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Thursday, January 14, 2021, nurses in the pediatric unit opened dozens of Amazon packages full of new movies. These movies were donated to the hospital from generous individuals and families on behalf of Esther, a former patient in the pediatrics unit.
Esther was at the hospital recently and during her stay she requested to watch Frozen 2. The pediatric nurses were only able to bring back the closest substitute they had on hand, Barbie: Mermaidia, which came out in 2006: years before Esther was born.
Esther wanted to help future patients in the pediatric unit have age appropriate and more current movie options to choose from; So she and her family created an Amazon gift registry for Sky Lakes Medical Center full of movies of a variety of genres and age groups to pick from. “I don’t just like mermaids, unicorns, and fairies. I also like adventure movies, spy movies, and dinosaur movies,” said Esther, who “Wanted kids to have as big a choice to pick from as possible.”
Esther’s family took the gift registry live with a video on Facebook explaining what they were doing and how people could contribute. “I put it on my Facebook page and my husband’s page, and it spread from there” said Liz, Esther’s mother, “We were surprised at how quickly people responded and how well they responded. There were people across the country that were buying movies and donating to the hospital.”
The staff opening the packages were excited about the titles they unpacked, often remarking that they had not seen many of the movies. Movies that arrived at the hospital included: Despicable me 1-3, Leap, Sing, Harry Potter, Boss Baby, Beauty and the Beast, Cars, and Moana. There have been 51 movies donated so far.
Liz said, “It felt really good to help other kids who were in the hospital like Esther was.”
Esther said her teacher taught her to “Always treat others the way you like to be treated” and that was something that motivated her to make sure other children’s hospital stays included more movie options during their recovery. “I hope I made some kids happy” said Esther.
If you would like to purchase a movie for the Sky Lakes Medical Center’s Pediatric unit, Esther’s gift registry is still active at Amazon.
