“Go Santa, you are almost there!” say the children in our west-facing patient rooms.
He’s climbing to the 15-foot Christmas tree on the roof of our new Kay Jewelers Pavilion.
Last year, workers fashioned a Christmas tree powered by a car battery and then hoisted it to one of our massive cranes. The cranes may be gone this year, but the holiday spirit remains.
“In my opinion, anything we can do to put a smile on the patients’ faces is worth the effort,” said lead project supervisor Tom Conti, of Welty Construction Co. “It isn’t every day that you get to work at a facility like this and have the opportunity to brighten these kids’ day.”
Conti and his 3 sons – 10-year-old Joe, 14-year-old Anthony and 16-year-old Tommy – trekked down to a tree farm in Zoar, selected the perfect tree and cut it down.
“I put the tree up on the building top the next day, but something seemed missing,” said Conti.
A week ago, his family watched in disbelief as he headed out to their front yard and dismantled the rope climbing Santa figurine that has brightened the chimney at his personal residence the past 10 years.
“The kids were like, ‘Dad! What are you doing?'” laughed Conti. “I think they thought I had lost it. But when I told them I wanted to take Santa to the hospital to make the day brighter for the kids, they were all for it.”
A wide-angle view from the construction camera shows the location of Santa and the tree on the Kay Jewelers Pavilion
