Holiday Party for Children Just What the Doctor Ordered

Santa Claus was a pediatrician. The Sugar Plum Fairy was a work-site wellness coordinator. And the helper in the red sweat shirt taking his turn pulling the pinata up and down on a pulley was a president, chairman and chief executive officer.

In fact, he was Roger F. Greaves, president, chairman and chief executive officer of Health Net, the Warner Center-based health maintenance organization. He was leading 250 of his employees from Christmas past to Christmas future.

Saturday afternoon, the Health Net staff turned a chandeliered ballroom of the Warner Center Marriott Hotel into a fairyland of glitter-coated castles, magicians, carolers, toy soldiers, princesses, puppeteers and tables overflowing with presents.

It was all for the sake of 250 children who were brought by 10 philanthropic agencies that serve the poor, the disabled and the abused.

Arriving by bus, van and car, the children, ages 5 to 10, filed wide-eyed across the marbled lobby and through the oversized doors of the main salon and under the archway of a 10-foot-tall castle.

Inside, each received a salute from the toy soldier from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” and were welcomed to touch the velvety dress of the princess who wakes the soldier with a kiss that turns him into a living prince.

Then, they took turns swinging at pinatas, sitting with Santa, playing computer games, making crafts out of thousands of red-painted doctors’ tongue depressors and filling their plates at a festive buffet.

One of the parent chaperons, Mike Armenta, was overcome with emotion as his daughter, Angie, who has Down’s syndrome, blew bubbles with the velvet-gowned princess. In real life, the princess is Deborah Burd, a Health Net work-site wellness assistant.

He said he was worried because his daughter does not communicate verbally, but immediately saw that the employees knew how to make her at ease, from the welcomer who guided her with hand signals to the choir member who put the songbook in her hand.

“These people are wonderful,” Armenta said. “They made points in heaven today.”

Eighty employees put on the show Saturday. But at least 250 worked behind the scenes for weeks to make it ready. Each of the employees contributed a new gift and worked lunch hours and after work on one of the teams formed by the party committee.

A committee broke down the tasks and assigned them to teams. One bought and stuffed the 25 pinatas. One painted enough tongue depressors for 750 craft kits. One wrapped presents. And so on.

Finding the children was the easy part. Diane Lapins, who runs Health Net’s clinical programs, put out a request to 10 social service agencies from El Nido Family Center in Pacoima to the San Fernando Valley Child Guidance Clinic in Van Nuys for children who would not be likely to have a Christmas celebration of their own.

The agencies sent out messages to their clients, and “the response was overwhelming,” said Monica Rivera, a child abuse counselor at El Centro de Amistad in Canoga Park.

The idea for the party originated at the top of Health Net. Greaves said he was pondering “the corporate responsibility to reach out at the holiday time” when it occurred to him that there might be a better use for the thousands of dollars the company traditionally spent each year to throw its employees a Christmas party.

He proposed the idea to the employees and found overwhelming support, he said.

Nevermind that most of the employees perceived it as a management decision. They thought it was a great one.

“As a pediatrician, I think this is wonderful,” said Santa Claus, portrayed by Dr. Michael Siegel, a Health Net regional medical director.

“We decided that instead of spending money on ourselves, we wanted to spend it on the community,” said work-site wellness specialist Gary Kelman, who was splendid in the red jacket of the toy soldier. “It’s a lot more rewarding.”

“This is so much more fun,” said Gigi Domingo, casting happy spells as the Sugar Plum Fairy. “It’s great just to see all these little kids.”

Jim Lucas, director of public relations for Health Net, said he foresees the idea spreading.

“The need is greater than any company’s reach,” Lucas said. “The best holiday present for us would be that others follow this path toward a new ‘old’ tradition in company parties.”