SANTA ANA : Costumed Children Are Patients’ ‘Treat’

Sara Moore says she can’t remember the last time she spent Halloween with children.

So the 80-year-old great-grandmother was all smiles Friday as about 60 third-graders from Jefferson Elementary School sang songs and recited poems to her and a dozen other elderly patients at Coastal Communities Hospital.

“It brought back memories,” said Moore after watching the 15-minute performance by the students, who came dressed in Halloween costumes. “My blood pressure went sky-high when I learned they were coming.”

Moore, a resident of a Santa Ana retirement home, has been in the hospital for three weeks with sleeping problems. She said she has a big family of her own, including four great-grandchildren, but she doesn’t see them often.

The Halloween visit has become a tradition between the hospital and the school, according to Glinda Muirhead, community relations director at the ward, which serves elderly patients.

It is intended to bring cheer to the patients, who are mostly in their 70s and 80s, as well as to teach the students real-life lessons about sickness and old age, she said.

“Children need to know these things,” said Muirhead, a former substitute teacher at Jefferson. “They should not be shielded.”

The students said they were moved by the patients, some sitting limply in their wheelchairs, oblivious to what was going on.

One woman patient occasionally moaned and screamed while the students were singing.

“They looked so lonely,” said Prince Kendrick, 8, who was dressed as an Arabian prince. “I hope we made them happy.”

A girl dressed as a witch, Lizette Portugal, 8, said the elderly people, despite their appearance, did not scare her. “They looked like nice people,” she said.

“I wasn’t scared,” said Andre Robinson, 8, who was dressed as a Ninja. “But I was so nervous I kept messing up.”

Silka Diaz, Jessica Alvarez and Victoria Nguyen, all 7, said they have not seen their own grandparents and were delighted to perform before elderly people for the first time.

“It’s something really special,” said Loretta Campagnola, teacher of one of the two third-grade classes that visited the hospital. “We hope the experience will make the children more tolerant of people when they become adults.”