WATCH: Construction workers bring huge smiles to tiny patients
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The kids at the infusion center at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg are getting a welcomed distraction and some big smiles.
Every Friday, they have a Friday dance party to celebrate getting through their week of treatment, but this particular Friday was different. This time, the construction workers who are building the new research facility across the way joined the dance party, too!
The workers held signs, danced, and waved at the tiny patients who were dancing in the window right across from them. "Everybody just broke out into huge smiles," said Todd Collier, General Superintendent.
"It's an outlet. They're forgetting they've been in the hospital all week. They're forgetting that they've got a terminal illness," said Natalie Hartz, a nurse at the hospital.
The workers are building a brand new, 225,000 square feet, seven-floor research and education building. "Everybody here is really proud to be working on this project. We all understand that the type of research and education that will take place in this building, the researchers it's going to house, an opportunity to potentially cure some childhood illnesses is pretty close to everybody's heart," said Collier.
The building will open in 2018. Until then, the workers will continue their new tradition of joining the party each first Friday of the month.That's a lot of Friday smiles! "I hope we've brightened their day a little bit, I hope we made them smile," said Collier.
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