The families of patients at Virtua Voorhees and the hospital’s staff had a little something extra to boost their holiday spirits on Dec. 10 when kids from the Virtua Development Center took to the hospital cafeteria for their very own holiday concert.
More than two dozen of the development center’s kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students were on hand to sing songs such as “Jingle Bells” and “Here Comes Santa Claus” for families and friends of patients at the hospital and the hospital staff who treats those patients.
Jayme Bundy, director of childcare at Virtua, said the concert was just another of the many ways the center, open to children of Virtua employees, tries to teach its kids to give back to the community.
“We do a lot of different drives. Right now, we’re doing a food drive for the South Jersey Food Bank,” Bundy said. “We’re doing a toy drive. We do the angel tree every year for the Salvation Army, so right now the kids are collecting, so we’re trying to mold them into good citizens.”
Bundy said the children understood they were there to help people feel better, and the Virtua concert wasn’t even the only appointment for the kids that day.
Earlier in the morning, the students had performed at the Brandywine Senior Living facility, which, according to Bundy, was “really cool” for them.
“We were at Brandywine before we came here and they sang to the residents and they brought people out from the dementia unit and it was just amazing,” Bundy said. “They’re really learning to be good citizens, good kids, and that’s important to us.”
One child singing at the event, 4-year-old Danni Zak, said she was there to make people feel better and to have fun.
“We were coming to sing for the sick people who broke their head and arms,” Danni said. “We were singing for people who had a headache.”
Danni’s mother Melissa, vice president of patient care, said the concert was “adorable, absolutely adorable,” and that as a mother, it was nice to know her daughter was being taught the value of giving back, especially around the holidays.
“What a nice thing to do,” Melissa said. “They sang before at the retirement home first and then here, and what a nice way to brighten everybody’s day.”
One grandparent at the event was Michael Kotzen, Virtua executive vice president for population health management, who was there to see the performance of his 4-year-old grandson Dominic Dunithan.
Kotzen said the concert is a yearly tradition for patients’ families and hospital staff, dating back to when his daughter was young enough to perform.
“It’s as much for our staff as it is for our patients,” Kotzen said. “My daughter used to do it. She went to our childhood development center, and now it’s cool seeing Dominic do it. Our staff really enjoys it, as do patients and families.”
Kotzen said the center does a lot to try to teach the kids the importance of giving back.
“They’re at an early age, but I know they do Alex’s Lemonade Stand, they’re doing special gift drives for the holidays, and they like getting out,” Kotzen said. “They’re getting used to it.”
