On Friday, August 20 2009 members from the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) Kid\u2019s program comprised of on-duty and off-duty members participated in the annual \u201cBeach Fest Day\u201d at Miller Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
For this event a large conference room was transformed into a tropical beach setting, with the backdrop of a sizeable screen projecting moving fish amongst a coral reef. There were balloon dolphins floating through the air, plastic lobsters and crabs on the tables, kiddie pools on the floor, and even some food provided shaped in the form of sea creatures.<\/p>\n
Members from the LBFDKid\u2019s and Miller Hospital greeted the children wearing straw hats and leas, and then escorted the children to various different activities. Their first activity was to pick either a visor or plastic fire helmet to decorate which they wore throughout the event, and to receive their very own book bag, with \u201cgoodies\u201d provided through the generous donations received by the LBFDKid\u2019s . Pictures were then taken in grass skirts, between two blown up palm tress, and some of the children chose to hold or pet one of the two \u201ccomfort dogs\u201d in their pictures<\/p>\n
There were numerous games the children played, a face painting station, and even a large blown bubble presentation. This is a fun event, for the young and old, and the hospital staff was very gracious in expressing their gratitude for the LBFDKid\u2019s participation at this event.<\/p>\n
Various community partners were also in attendance to assist with the events activities including, Taylor Construction (currently working on the hospital renovation), the Aquarium of the Pacific, Children\u2019s Wish Foundation, Assistance League of Long Beach, and \u201cMake a Wish\u201d.<\/p>\n
The LBFDKid\u2019s is now in it\u2019s 11th<\/sup> year of existence, originally established by retired Captain David Holden and Deputy Chief Mike Garcia back in 1998, and is comprised of ALL members of the LBFD who participate. The mission of the LBFDKid\u2019s is to enhance the lives and well being of the chronically ill children at Miller Hospital, through bringing smiles and laughter.<\/p>\n This program is a great opportunity for members of the LBFD to provide an atmosphere of caring, comfort, fun and enjoyment to each patient treated at Miller Children\u2019s Hospital; and to enhance the LBFD\u2019s presence in a non-threatening, non-emergent role within the community.<\/p>\n The next scheduled LBFDKid\u2019s event is the \u201cHalloween Trick or Treat Day\u201d on Friday, October 31st<\/sup> from 8:30 to 1130 A.M. LBFDKid\u2019s volunteers visit the rooms of all the children and then lead a parade throughout the hospital where children dressed in their costumes \u201cTrick or Treat\u201d throughout the facility.<\/p>\n For more information on this event, future programs e.g., Christmas Visit, or the LBFDKid\u2019s organization please contact Captain Greg Curiel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Friday, August 20 2009 members from the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) Kid\u2019s program comprised of on-duty and off-duty members participated in the annual \u201cBeach Fest Day\u201d at Miller Children\u2019s Hospital. For this event a large conference room was transformed into a tropical beach setting, with the backdrop of a sizeable screen projecting moving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1644,"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions\/1644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firechannel.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}