Sounds of laughter come from the party room decorated with pink streamers and balloons that look like lipstick tubes. Young girls get help to glue on fake eyelashes and brush pink powder across their cheeks. Makeup and nail stations are set up around the room on tables filled with an array of beauty products, mirrors, lotions and potions. Each girl picks out jewelry to wear for the photo shoot and takes turns trying on Miss Virginia’s crystal pageant crown, who’s there as a volunteer for the day. The photographer snaps away on one side of the room while the girls pose against a gray backdrop. Hope for Henry is the non-profit organization in charge of Georgetown Hospital’s pamper party this afternoon. The hospital’s mission: make life fun for patients.
Children on the fifth floor of Georgetown University Hospital are treated for cancer, blood disorders and rare diseases. In one of the units on the floor, pediatric patients wait for organ transplants. Kids with life-threatening illnesses often spend Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthdays in the hospital. The hospital staff, often with the help of the Hope for Henry foundation, throws parties for all of these occasions. The hospital hosts events including Superhero Day and Washington Sports Day, when the Washington Nationals and Washington Redskins come take pictures with the kids and sign gear. Each child gets cupcakes on their birthday and a gift card. The fun carts are another patient favorite. The movie cart that goes from room to room has new DVDs, popcorn and candy. The game cart offers games ranging from Candy Land to Mario Kart, which can be played on the hospital’s Wii systems.
“Honey, fix your wig and make sure your IV pole isn’t in the shot,” one mother says to her 12-year-old daughter. Parents with dark circles under their eyes carry coffee mugs and wheel their children with chest tubes and breathing tubes from the nail stations to the makeup stations at the pamper party. One 8-year-old in need of a transplant adjusts a waste bag connected to her side while getting her makeup done by Miss Virginia. Miss Virginia has to powder the patient’s face lightly because it’s swollen from steroids. The little girl smiles from ear to ear and her mother takes a picture. The makeover-pamper party is this patient’s new favorite hospital event. She feels more confident after having her nails painted and makeup applied since she can’t control what’s currently going on with her body.
The little girl’s other favorite hospital event is the cupcake decorating party. Sisters Katherine Kallinis Berman and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne, the co-founders of Georgetown Cupcake, come to the hospital with cupcake decorating tools and all the children decorate cupcakes and eat them in the party room. Hospital events are never complete without cupcakes from the sisters’ bakery. The patients’ parents are glad they can promise these sweet treats after watching their children suffer through shots, blood tests and transfusions. The pamper party is complete with cupcakes today.
Once all the patients have posed for glamor shots, they roll their IV stands back to their rooms in different units. Siblings who have come to the party head home. Nurses on duty for the night shift switch with the day nurses and compare notes. Parents get their small cots ready to sleep over on the pediatric floor. None of the families want to be staying in the hospital after the fun ends, but luckily there’s always something to look forward to at Georgetown Hospital. The staff knows life at the hospital doesn’t always have to be serious. Treatment comes in many forms.
