Patients at Kingston General Hospital were a bit surprised when they looked out their windows on Aug. 2, but in a good way.
The hospital, in partnership with Elite Window Cleaning, arranged for some special guests to clean the windows and give patients, both young and old, something to smile about.
“We heard about this idea of having superheroes clean the windows at a conference last fall and we knew we had to do it at KGH,” explained Marcia McFarlane, maternal child supervisor at KGH and one of the members responsible for organizing the day. “It was something so simple, but we knew it would make the kids so happy.”
The superhero window washers, members of the Elite Window Cleaning team, were immediately on board when KGH contacted them with this special request.
“It was the first time any of us had done something like that and it was beyond rewarding,” said Chris Stoness of Elite. “We brainstormed about who we wanted to dress up as and we rented the costumes from Audrey’s here in Kingston. They were a bit hot, but well worth it.”
Members of the team dressed up as Iron Man, Spiderman, Superman, Thor, Batman and G.I. Joe and set off on their cleaning, but they took a bit more time than they would normally.
“The superheroes were wonderful and they really took their time and participated with the kids too, posing for pictures, giving thumbs up and touching the glass,” said McFarlane. “The patients and their families were laughing and we had our playroom set up for patients from the cancer centre to come up before their treatments. There were lots of photos and everyone was surprised.”
The cleaners themselves also really enjoyed the experience and they were surprised by some of the reactions they received.
“We had to clean all the windows to the ground dressed like that so there were some older patients that got some joy out of it too,” said Stoness. “They were really surprised, but in a good way. They laughed too.”
The event was a great success all around and McFarlane hopes that it is something the hospital can repeat in the years to come.
“I would love to do it again. It was definitely very special. When you see the kids touching the windows and just the look on their faces, it is so rewarding.”