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  • Volunteer Helen Richmond pretends to draw blood from Okay Elementary student Isabella Hall during Muskogee Regional Medical Center’s annual “Let’s Play Hospital” event. More than 750 students attended the weeklong event. Staff photo by Wendy Burton

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  • Okay Elementary students get tickled by the dancing of Muskogee Regional Medical Center’s mascot “Well Wabbit” during Muskogee Regional Medical Center’s annual “Let’s Play Hospital” event. More than 750 students attended the weeklong event. Staff photo by Wendy Burton

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March 2, 2011

Event eases kids’ fear of the hospital

By Wendy Burton Phoenix Staff Writer

First-grader Isabella Hall was prepped for surgery as her classmates from Okay Elementary watched at Muskogee Regional Medical Center.

Hall was only pretending to head for a tonsillectomy on Wednesday during “Let’s Play Hospital” — MRMC’s annual event for grade school students in the Muskogee area.

“I had my tonsils out here,” Isabella said. “It’s not scary. I was asleep, I think. But it did hurt once. They gave me a bowl of ice cream and it felt all better.”

The annual event, in its 27th year, is meant to help children overcome their fear of hospitals. More than 750 students attended the weeklong event.

“This helps young children alleviate their anxiety if they ever have to come to the hospital for a surgery,” said MRMC’s Andrea Wilcoxen. “So, we take them through the process of what it would be like if they had to have their tonsils out or tubes in their ears.”

Pretending to be Hall’s father at the hospital, first-grader Diezel Branchcomb wore a “World’s Greatest Dad” ballcap and sat by his “daughter’s” side.

Branchcomb also had experience with the hospital and said it wasn’t scary for him.

“This is my second time being here,” Diezel said. “I seen my grandma, who’s 98, or maybe 89, here. So, it doesn’t scare me now.”

The event, sponsored by the MRMC Auxiliary, includes volunteers pretending to be lab techs, orderlies, nurses and the doctor — Dr. Bob.

Dr. Bob Brownell, a longtime area physician who is now retired, pretended to be the surgeon taking out Isabella’s tonsils.

Every student got to hear his or her heartbeat, wear a hospital wristband and learn to take his or her pulse.

At the end of the session, the hospital’s mascot, Well Wabbit, came in and danced for the students — who laughed until they had “stitches” in their sides.

Reach Wendy Burton at (918) 684-2926 or wburton@muskogeephoenix.com.

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