Radio Lollipop at Texas Childrens Hospital has been taking time this year to Salute Our Heroes! Weve done special crafts for our soldiers, policemen, firemen, Doctors, and even the volunteers at TCH. The last group we had left to salute was the Nurses who we interact with each night were on the air.
To show them how special they are to us and especially the patients, we decided to try something a little different. Nurses Week is a big celebration here in Houston and we thought that would be a great time to do our part in saluting the Nurses at TCH.
During Radio Lollipop on May 3rd, 5th, and 10th, we took ballots to the patients so they could nominate their favorite nurse or nurses. The patients were encouraged to say why they thought the nurse(s) they were nominated were special. At the end of each night, we collected the ballots and put them in a large collection box.
On Wednesday, May 10th, we had a special live broadcast from 10AM to 2PM as a Salute to TCH Nurses. We went live on the air, ready with beads (big thing here in Mardi Gras country), lollipops, and prizes to give out to the nurses. Patients called in and dedicated songs to their favorite nurse(s), did shout-outs, or came up to the studio to participate. During our broadcast, we had patients in the studio pull a ballot from our collection box and we read the name(s) and reason for why they were nominated. The Prize Patrol took the lucky winner(s) their prize and distributed lollipops and beads to their fellow nurses. At the end of the broadcast, we took the remaining ballots and distributed them to the Charge Nurse on the individual floors.
We were a big hit and the nurses were very surprised with what the patients had to say about them. They were also very appreciative of us taking the time to recognize them. It was a great success and were planning on making this an annual event.