HO! HO! HO!
SANTA ARRIVES IN STYLE - IN FIRE TRUCK -
TO VISIT PATIENTS DURING ANNUAL LIGHTING CEREMONY

11th Annual Driscoll Children’s Hospital Holiday Lighting Ceremony & Santa Visit
Thursday, December 1, 2005
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Driscoll Children’s Hospital (outside and inside)
FREE and open to the public

(Corpus Christi, TX) Ho! Ho! Ho! The holidays have officially made it to Corpus Christi as Santa Claus arrives at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in a bucket truck high atop a shiny red fire truck with sirens blaring and lights flashing. He officially rings in this festive season at the hospital during the 11th Annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony on Thursday, December 1st, from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. in and outside the hospital. The event is free and open to the public.

Accompanied by the W.B. Ray High School Holiday Band, Santa will aid C.E.O. and President Rick W. Merrill in “throwing the switch” on the bright, colorful lights on the Driscoll’s eight-story patient tower.

The festivities will move inside Driscoll’s auditorium where children of all ages can sit on Santa’s lap and take a picture, listen to a special reading of Christmas stories, sing carols, face paint, make ornaments, decorate cookies, and enjoy refreshments. Following the festivities, Santa will then visit the patient floors to see patients who are unable to visit the auditorium.

About Driscoll Children’s Hospital
“Improve the health of adults and you give them back their health …
Improve the health of children and you give them their life.”

Since opening its doors in 1953, Driscoll Children’s Hospital has been offering hope and healing to the children of South Texas for half a century. The facility is a 189-bed pediatric tertiary care center with pediatric board-certified specialists representing 19 medical and nine surgical specialties. Each year, more than 6,000 children are admitted for inpatient care, 5,000 for day surgery, and 50,000 for outpatient primary and specialty care, as well as 40,000 for emergency care, as the first South Texas hospital with emergency services exclusively for children. Additionally, Driscoll maintains a state-of-the-art ground/air transport team, 20-bed pediatric intensive care unit, 40-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and specialized medical outreach.

www.driscollchildrens.org

# # #