For the last decade or so, singers from the BRC founder`s band ‘Gainor & Friends’ have convened quarterly to perform a songfest on the in-patient ward of the local Children`s Hospital. These gigs usually coincide with holidays like the 4th of July, Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick`s Day. To enhance the festivities, a couple of nurses with seamstress skills generously sew surgeon`s caps as gifts for the kids and siblings. Depending on the calendar holiday, these caps are made from fabric adorned with flags & fireworks, goblins & pumpkins, Xmas elves & reindeer, hearts & flowers, or shamrocks. The cheery shamrock-covered caps are the perennial favorites among the young patients, and sometimes the hospital staff even ask for a luck-of-the-Irish cap to wear.
The songfests are held in the children`s ward playroom where parents bring the kids in wheelchairs. Some youngsters have IV bags and poles that follow them everywhere. When a child has an immune deficiency disorder and is isolation, the G&F Singers don caps, gowns, and gloves in order to sing at the bedside of the quarantined patient. Try playing your stringed instrument sometime wearing rubber gloves…..
Next week, the G&F Quartet will prepare for our annual Fourth of July sing-along gig on the pediatric ward.
In the recent photo below, a future banjo picker watches his granddad play the “Peace Dove” 5-stringer at the BRC founder`s retirement party attended by the “Gainor & Friends” throng.
To All from the BRC- have a great summer and check-out the below link for further fun reading.
http://www.jhandsurg.org/article/S0363-5023(13)01452-4/fulltext
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