Thursday, September 18, 2008
Mill Mountain Zoo program brings animals to hospital
Young patients at a Roanoke hospital got to see a lizard, a frog and Pursey, the American alligator.
JEANNA DUERSCHERL The Roanoke Times
Lucia Driscoll (from left), Maria Garcia, Dariel Garcia Aparicio, Thelma Saunders and Sheridan Saunders look at a baby turtle from Mill Mountain Zoo last week during a hospital stay.
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Megan Everett stood ready to present the show's grand finale.
In front of her, seven sick children looked at her eagerly, surrounded by their siblings and parents and the mountains and bright clouds of Roanoke's skyline from Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital's 11th floor. Some of the children had cancer, diabetes and heart conditions, one was in a wheelchair and three had IV poles.
Everett, education manager at Mill Mountain Zoo, had already shown a variety of animals on a recent Friday afternoon. She showed animals such as Ginger, a lizard who loves salad and climbing trees, and Hoppy, a frog that changes color.
But it was the American alligator Pursey who stole the show.
Sheridan Saunders, 8, gasped and jumped back when she saw Pursey with his eyes on the sides of his head, teeth outside his mouth and long tail.
The hard plates on his back show how alligators are distant relatives of dinosaurs, while his stomach is soft just like a snake, Everett told the children. She also told them that Pursey was confiscated by the government because he was owned illegally and was later given to the zoo.
Everett spends time at Roanoke Memorial through a program started by Carilion child life specialist Jill Hamilton in August 2007. She had participated in a similar program with the Audubon Zoo in her previous job at Children's Hospital in New Orleans and thought to herself: Why not do something similar with Mill Mountain Zoo?
Everett visits the hospital once a month and always tries to bring a new animal to mix things up. She says she enjoys giving the children a bit of excitement during their hospital stay and helping them get their mind off their illness.
"It's a great experience for us, too, to get out into the community and to see kids' faces light up when they do fun things like that," Everett said.
At the end of the program, Sheridan talked about the animals while dressed in a green hospital gown and with an IV in her right arm. The Roanoke girl had been planning to take a nap instead of seeing the animals until Hamilton convinced her otherwise.
She had entered the hospital two days before for an appendectomy and was still feeling groggy.
She started feeling sick on her first day of third grade at Westside Elementary School in Roanoke. At school, her right side started hurting and she began throwing up. Her mom, Thelma Saunders, took her to Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital that Tuesday night. She was then rushed to Roanoke Memorial and underwent surgery for appendicitis at 4 the next morning.
Sheridan had never been hospitalized before and assumed it would be a bore. Instead, she received a Build-a-Bear and Barbie doll in the hospital and was even able to play on a Wii and see the animals.
"The animals made my day," Sheridan said with a wide smile before she slowly shuffled away in her black slippers, holding her IV pole.
