Bedside Santa : Making Christmas Merry for Children in the Hospital Is a Big Operation

Three-year-old Ruben Guardado has spent more of his life in hospitals than at his home in Oxnard, battling lung problems caused by his premature birth. And this Christmas, unfortunately, was no exception.

Life is tough when you must breathe through an opening in the neck and be fed through a tube in the intestine. But surrounded by piles of toys and high-tech medical equipment in the intensive care unit at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, Ruben brightened and waved when Santa Claus and other volunteers paid a visit Wednesday.

Ruben and his family share a kinship with other children who had to spend Christmas in the hospital. They are the emergency cases and the children who are just too sick to go home. Many are under age 3.

“This is like home for him,” said Linda Guardado, Ruben’s mother, as she dressed him in a special Christmas outfit. The staff members, she said, “love him, they play with him.”

Volunteers at Childrens Hospital, where many severely ill youngsters are treated, do their best to make the holiday happy.

“The more we do for the children who are in the hospital, the more it helps the child’s family deal with the fact that the child is hospitalized over the holidays,” said Carol Hadford, the facility’s director of volunteer services. The holiday cheer also brightens the day for the hospital staff.

Preparing for Christmas at Childrens Hospital is a major operation. Throughout December there have been caroling groups, parties and visits by celebrities. The most popular appearances are by costumed figures such as Mickey Mouse and characters from “Sesame Street.”

Hadford said: “The children in the hospital miss a lot of what is going on at school and at home and in their churches at this time of year. So we try to make up for it by having things going on here for them.”

Boxes of donated toys must be sorted by age for the boys and girls. This year, as usual, the most popular items were stuffed animals, musical toys, Barbie dolls, and, for older boys, remote-controlled cars.

Toys left over are used to stock playrooms throughout the year or become birthday gifts or going-home presents for the young patients, Hadford said.

Late this Christmas Eve, each child received a stocking. Then, starting at 9 a.m. on Christmas Day, two volunteer Santas visited each of the 200 children in the hospital. The children each received two or three gifts and a Polaroid photograph of Santa’s visit to be given to their parents as a gift.

This year, one of the Santas was Bill Alderman of Los Angeles, a concert promoter and producer who frequently volunteers at the hospital.

“It is very enjoyable,” Alderman said as he made his rounds from cancer patients to newborns, then to older children with asthma and other chronic diseases. “I know a lot of the kids. It is real warm. Each little kid has a little something unique, the sparkles in their eyes. It just gives you a real good feeling.”

Catherine Godina of Rosemead was perched on the edge of her chair, anxiously awaiting Santa’s visit. Undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia, she has had to remain in the hospital because of her high susceptibility to infections. When Santa entered the room, she reacted with a big smile.

Four-year-old Nadine Torres of Glendale smiled and hugged Santa. She was admitted to the hospital with a severe asthma attack on Tuesday and was already breathing more easily, her parents said.

Hrachik Moskovian, a 4-year-old from Downey, had also been in the hospital for only a day, under treatment for a urinary infection. His mother was appreciative of all the attention he was receiving. But, like the other parents, she wished her child could be home for the holiday.

“It is a totally different feeling being in the hospital,” Narine Moskovian said. “None of the kids should be here if they don’t have to.”